We had a great time at the Grand and Spice Bazaars yesterday. They are definitely worth the visit and both easily accessible by public transit. True to its name, the Grand Bazaar is huge, but buyer beware...The prices for fake merchandise here are steep and bargaining power is very low due to the shear volume of package tourists willing to pay full dollar (marked up 10x from its true retail value). It has turned into a place mostly tourists shop at, which in other words means tres cher. We are talking 200+ pounds for a fake leather bag, most bags etc were more pricey than home. Our advice is to go to small shops off the main strip (outside Sultanahmet) as they sell the same things although the "name brand" items are a bit tricky to find this way. In our opinion, the spice market was more interesting, and this was the only place we bought souvenirs!
We had a awesome, yet deafening, time at the Euroleague basketball game last night. Louder than any game but a playoff game...and even better...a Roko Ukic sighting!! Fhenerbhace's starting point guard, who used to be a raptor. People saw Jarrets Toronto cap, and let us know they thought we had a bad team (insert wagging finger in our faces here).
Today we go to the second hand book bazaar traditionally known as Sahaflar Carsisi, which has been a place for trading and buying books since the 1600's. We will also go to Taksim square in hopes of finding a Sheesha cafe. Oddly enough, the only Sheesha we have seen in use was at the Best Western!!
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Book Bazaar a Success!
ReplyDeleteJarret found the new edition of the Jordan lonely planet and Leigh found the best seller "Running with Scissors" for 14 dollars! English books (besides those on Turkey or cooking) are sold in a limited number of shops at the bazaar and it is best to ask if they have them instead of routing through the floor to ceiling piles.