The Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Our day started with a trip to the Grand Bazaar, the largest and oldest covered bazaar in Turkey. The bazaar, with 92 streets and over 4,000 shops, was built by Mehmet II in 1461 to attract people to Istanbul after the conquest. Some of the Greeks came back and many more Turks arrived to take advantage of this new 15-century shopping mall.

Abby and I purchased an egg that had been carved out of a light-weight white stone with traditional Turkish tulip shapes carved in relief. I gave the shopkeeper a 50-lira note and received some change in return. He thanked me and scraped the note twice against his chin, once in each direction. He said, “Ah, the first sale of the day!” Esin explained that that gesture is a sign of appreciation. We also purchased a package of traditional Turkish tea glasses and saucers. The shop owner demonstrated how strong they were by banging one on the stone floor (or “street”) in front of his shop. Esin helped us to negotiate the price.

Sarah was interested in purchasing a rug, so Esin took us to a carpet dealer less than a block from the Grand Bazaar. The rug dealer was a very polished and kindly man who reminded me of Matt. While we sipped tea and bottled water, helpers began rolling out rugs of the appropriate size on the floor until it was covered with them. When Sarah began to express an interest in one of the rugs, two helpers held it up while the dealer explained the finer points to Sarah and Mark. They purchased the rug and had it shipped home.

We then hot-footed it to the waterfront just in time to catch the 11:00 a.m. ferry for a tour of the Bosporus. When the ferry got to the Asian side, it just touched the quay long enough for people to hop on or hop off, and then we were off to the next stop. We spent an hour and twenty minutes cruising up the Bosporus and back down again. A steward patrolled the aisles while offering tea, orange juice and Panini sandwiches. We saw many sultan’s palaces that had been built along the Bosporus over the years, some of which had been converted to schools, one to a hotel. Multi-million dollar homes overlook the Bosporus on both sides of the strait, some row houses right on the water front, and some large free-standing houses with small yards on the hill overlooking the Asian side. The Suleymaniye Mosque dominates one stretch of the water way, and not far away is the Topkapi Palace with the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia behind it.

Esin said that any building with a minaret is a mosque. We saw several very small mosques with just one minaret next to them, as well as some larger mosques commissioned by wealthy admirals or members of the sultan’s family. Two of my favorite sights were the forts that Mehmet II built to besiege the city in the early 1450’s. Extensive towers and walls running down to the water’s edge reminded me of the Great Wall of China. The Bosporus ferry was a great way to get a good overview of the city.

We had time to visit the spice market before we needed to go to the airport for our flight to Kayseri. We had tea in one of the shops while the salesman, a former Ohio State student, explained some spices to us. We bought a few of his spice mixes, some saffron, and some jasmine balls, which will open up when suspended in hot water to make a floral decoration.

We said good-bye to Esin at the airport and took a bus ride to our Boeing 737 for the flight to Kayseri. A tall gentlemen named Gorkahn met us outside the airport door for our ride to Urgup. He would later explain to us that his name means “Sky King” in Turkish. We drove the 25 miles to Yunak Evleri, a cave hotel in Urgup. We climbed a flight of steps to our suite, which actually was carved out of rock. The main part of the hotel had originally been a Greek mansion, according to Fodor’s. How cool is this!  We will spend three nights in a cave hotel in Cappadocia!

For dinner, Gorkahn recommended the Ziggy Café, which also has a Fodor’s orange star. A local specialty is pastrami, and I had a pastrami pasta dish as my entrée, as did Sarah. We started with several mezes, or appetizers, including grilled eggplant, potato salad and fava beans. Mark ordered a beef tortellini. Abby had a steak with pumpkin seeds that was delicious.