Our Serbian Story: Istanbul -- Part 2

Our second full day in Istanbul was full of shopping, eating and more sightseeing. After breakfast at our hotel, we hit the streets (I mean the hills -- from our hotel, it was a bit of a schlep up a fairly steep hill to get to the main sights in town), and headed for the tram. We had planned to ride across the Golden Horn to at least see the other major part of downtown Istanbul by tram, since we knew that on this trip, we were unlikely to have much time to explore that part of town. And so, we boarded the crowded tram and took a ride. We intended to ride to the end of the line, ride back over the Golden Horn, and then to get off at Topkapi Palace -- the former home of the sultans.

The small glitch came, however, when, at our intended point of disembarkation, the tram was literally so full of people that there was no way that we were going to be able to squeeze through the masses and get all 7 of us safely off the train. And so, we just rode the tram until it had cleared out enough to get off. Fortunately for me, we were finally able to get off just steps away from the Grand Bazaar, which we had planned to visit later in the day. Since we were there, we changed our plans, and headed for the Bazaar.

Now, in order to understand my excitement about going to the Grand Bazaar, it helps to know that I've had a long-standing fascination with this aspect of Turkey. In fact, in 1993, when I was in Romania, I declined an invitation to travel to Turkey because I had imagined that the whole city of Istanbul was one huge, crazy eastern-style market, surrounded by dusty roads and camels, and filled with turban-headed men shouting at passersby. Truth be told, although I was a relatively adventurous traveler even back then, I was too afraid to venture into the wilds of Turkey -- it seemed a bit too exotic for me. As it turns out, there are no dusty roads, men with turbans, or camels in the Grand Bazaar, but it nevertheless is one of the most unique, frenetic, lively, and beautiful places I've ever visited.

This amazing place, with more than 58 covered streets and over 1200 shops, is one of the world's largest and oldest covered markets. Opened in 1461, it is known around the world for its vast selection of jewelry, pottery, spices, textiles, and carpets. I could have spent days in the Bazaar just roaming the streets and haggling with vendors over prices on the beautiful pottery, scarves and other wonderful items. Traveling with 4 kids, though, does tend to impact ones' ability to stroll at a leisurely pace around such a place, and frankly, I was worried the whole time we were in the Bazaar that we might get separated from one of the kids, so it was not a relaxing experience. Despite my motherly worries, I managed to have a great time in the Bazaar, especially when it came time to find Hakan -- the famed State Department carpet salesman.

Turkish men having tea and minding their shop.

Call me crazy, but I have always wanted to buy a rug in Turkey. So, when we decided to take a trip to Istanbul, I started asking around the Embassy for recommendations as to where to go in Istanbul to buy a rug. Although I collected several names of reputable rug shops and dealers, the name that keep coming up was Hakan Evin with Imperio Ottomano. This guy specializes in selling to U.S. State Department employees, and prides himself on the fact that he's sold a carpet to every U.S. President since George Bush I. Most importantly, he is widely regarded as being honest and fair in his dealings.

And so, after we had looked at pottery, jewelry, and purchased a belly-dancer costume for Virginia (Halloween is coming, you know), we went in search of Hakan. We finally found his store, and were quickly shuttled to another location, outside of the Bazaar, and down some steep steps. In the bottom of this building were two small-ish rooms crammed with I don't know how many stacks of rugs.

Hakan -- our rug guy

We cut right to the chase with Hakan and told him what we were looking for. As is traditional in these rug-buying experiences, Hakan offered us tea (which must be the official drink of Turkey -- more on my new obsession with tea-drinking in the next post). And so, while Eli and I studied carpets, the kids and Lori had apple tea that they said was the best they had during our entire trip. After about an hour and a half, Eli and I had narrowed our choices down to 3 or 4 rugs, and we ended up, quite unexpectedly, buying two of them.

Having literally broken the Richardson bank, we promptly left the Grand Bazaar and headed for Topkapi Palace, built in the 15th century by the Ottomans, and home to the sultans for hundreds of years. This is a sprawling series of buildings and courtyards situated on a point surrounded by the Golden Horn and the Bosphorous. Suffice it to say that those sultans knew how to live! From the palace, we went (on our last leg, I should add -- we were totally exhausted by this point) to the Spice Market (a mini-version of the Grand Bazaar, but with an emphasis on teas and spices), and then to dinner with some American friends of ours from Belgrade who also were in Istanbul for the weekend (see the photo of the kids above sitting on the pillows). The restaurant had no chairs -- only pillows -- my kind of place, especially after our long and exhausting day. We sat on the rooftop of this restaurant, and enjoyed some Turkish beer, delicious food and good conversation with our friends. A perfect ending to an otherwise wonderful day!