The Spice Bazaar

My niece Yaz feeding pigeons outside Yeni Mosque

Alright kids, we're getting to the good stuff.

As previously mentioned, I was egregiously over served on my first night in Istanbul, and due to sleep deprivation and the irresponsible behavior of some Turkish waiters who wouldn't allow me to stop drinking their cursed alchohol, I awoke on Day 2 feeling a little, shall we say........under the weather? Which actually turned out to be apropos of the day. It was cold (high 40's), drizzly and foggy for the entire day. So, heavy coat on and beany protecting my hairless scalp, we went out into the city.

We went for a long walk down to the water's edge by the Strait of Bosphorous. We saw the Galata Bridge spanning the Golden Horn. We walked through the Spice Bazaar, which is an intoxicating experience both visually and aromatically. The huge mounds of brightly colored spices all neatly arranged, the food stalls; olives, fish, meat, bread, cheese, all in one place. There are bead shops, jewelry shops, hookah shops, clothing, etc. The Spice Bazaar is housed partly within the confines of the Yeni Mosque, also referred to as the "new" mosque because it's merely 350  years old. Not REALLY old like some of the other mosques around town. The original intent was that the rent from the shops would help pay the upkeep on the mosque. Evidently it's working out, because both entities seem to be going strong.

Brother Ralph, Yaz, Cousin Cheryl, Mom

Yeni Mosque, completed in 1660

One of the many spice merchants in the Bazaar

Beans and other dried foods

Shopping in the Spice Bazaar

Yummy, delicious olives

Fish shop

"Koyun" means sheep. Your guess is as good as mine
from there. 

Nuts of every description

Check out the cheese on the right
The best cheese EVER is in Turkey

A view back down the row of shops in one of the
few outdoor areas of the Spice Bazaar

One thing I would like to very briefly comment on at this juncture is my impression of the food scene in Turkey. Being a westerner, it was very hard for me to reconcile my preconceived notions about what things would look like in a megalopolis such as Istanbul with the reality I found myself immersed in there. Like the friends and acquaintances I mentioned in an earlier post, I couldn't help but picture Turkey as somewhat backwards. I ignorantly thought, as hard as I tried not to, that life would be a little grim and hardscrabble in this place. I could not have been more wrong. You can't walk one block, ONE block, without seeing multiple fresh food stores. They're small, but they're everywhere, and they have produce and meat and fish and cheese and bread that makes our supermarkets look weak. It is all produced nearby and brought in fresh constantly. The quality and abundance of food in Turkey is staggering and delightful. Even the flowers being sold at corner flower stands put the ones I see in my hometown to shame. I will be devoting an entire post in the not too distant future to the food in Turkey. It is a feast for the eyes as well as the body. Incredible, and better than the food you and I eat here. Believe it.

Sooooo, back to Day 2 in Istanbul. After a long day walking through the marketplace and strolling along the shore of the Bosphorous, we stopped and had lunch. There was a big football game (soccer to us) taking place that night and my brother had me all talked into going, but by the time we got back to the hotel late that afternoon the previous night's debauchery had joined forces with the jet lag I was carrying around and they basically put a beat down on my dumb ass. I collapsed into bed early that night and slept like a baby. The following morning I awoke feeling like a million bucks and we got down to some serious sightseeing.

That next day we took a ferry ride along the Bosphorous to within sight of the Black Sea. At least it would have been had the cold skies not been filled with low, dark, drizzly clouds.

The next post: Anadolu Kavagi and the sights along the Bosphorous. See you then...