If you've got a date in Constantinople...

She'll be waiting in Istanbul!

The past couple days have been pretty crazy as it’s been 11 days since our last class day. I had a poetry exam today, which ended up being extremely easy as it was open book. We also had a tentative due date today for a poetry paper, so I was trying to get that done, but he pushed the final due date to after Egypt. Right now I’m taking a break from packing to write this post because I won’t be writing for 4 days! Steven and I are doing the Cairo/Luxor overnight trip, which involves 2 days/2 nights in Cairo and 2 days/1 night in Luxor. On our last day (Saturday) we have a visit to an orphanage in Alexandria. It should be a good time, although I’m a little sad that we have no time to explore Alexandria. Anyway, about our last 2 days in Turkey…..

We didn’t have any trips planned for the last 2 days, so we decided to spend a few hours in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.  We got there around 9am and stayed until well past 2pm. And we probably didn’t even see half of it.  The bazaar has 61 streets and over 4000 shops, but we were told a lot of the shops sell the same exact things. There were lamp shops selling the same kinds of lamps, jewelry shops selling the same kinds of jewelry, and leather shops up the kazoo. I really wanted a lamp, so we went into a store to look around.  The price they give you is too much and you’re supposed to barter it down to a reasonable price. We were given a lot of tips beforehand, like to shop around to find the best price and everything. We get to this first shop and I see a lamp I really like. It’s a hanging metal lamp with a glass bowl covered in a multi-colored glass mosaic, I figure it probably costs around $40-$50.  I asked the salesman how much, and he said 120 lira, which is about $78.  I said thank you and that I was going to go look around and he goes, “No no no I will not let you leave! How much do you think it is worth?” Despite my protests he would not let me go, and I offered 80 lira, which is about $50. He took it, and I walked off happily with my lamp but still a little disappointed that I gave in too easily.  Steven also wanted a lamp, so we stopped at another store nearby.  I wish I had just walked out of that other store and shopped around!!!!!!! Steven got an even bigger lamp for 40 lira ($25).  I was really mad at myself for overpaying for my lamp!! I guess it was a learning experience, and I definitely got better at bargaining after that.  We wandered around, looking at different stores.  I usually hate shopping while at home, but I have really enjoyed shopping on this trip.  While I loved looking at the variety of new things in the bazaar, the salesmen really started to get on my nerves.  Let’s just say I like my personal space, and these people get in your face and try to sell you carpets and leather jackets and cashmere and everything you can think of. As soon as you tell one that you don’t need a carpet, another one swoops in. I know it’s their culture and they are trying to sell their goods, I just wanted my bubble!  They said funny things to us like, “come in so I can help you spend your money!” or “how can I take your money from you?” Clever, huh?  I knew of some things I wanted to get, like scarves, tea, teacups, and possibly a blanket, so we shopped around.  I got a set of six teacups and saucers, blue with etched flowers, for 20 lira.  Turkish teacups look more like shotglasses than our idea of teacups.  I also got an obscene amount of tea (I tried apple tea and pomegranate tea and absolutely loved both, so I guess I’m developing a liking for tea?) for really cheap.  We found one shop with boxes of tea for 5 lira each.  The owner said “for you, 3 lira.”  I ended up getting 4 for 10 lira! I was getting better!  A lot of shops were selling ceramic plates and bowls, and I saw a really pretty turquoise pattern that I loved. I picked out 4 bowls of the same color but with slightly different patterns, all handpainted, and asked how much they were.  They were 12 lira each, but I ended up getting 4 for 35 lira.  Woot!  I got other little things, like a scarf, a t-shirt, a magnet, but my biggest purchase was a throw for a future couch in a future apartment.  We stopped at the first shop we saw, where I saw a pretty maroon and beige patterned throw.  This kid was trying to sell it to me, saying it was 120 lira, but I kept saying I wanted to look around. I could tell it wasn’t really high quality. An adult came out of the shop and started talking to us, and I was only able to get it down to 90 lira.  I asked him for his card and said that I would probably be back, I just wanted to look at other styles (and not be in the same predicament as the lamp).  We wandered around a bit more until a guy pulled us into his shop.  He showed us to a room across the street where we sat down on a bench and he brought out different throws for us to look at. I wasn’t too thrilled about any of them and they were really expensive, around 400-500 lira. I said my highest price was probably 150 lira, so he brought out a stack of silk and cashmere throws.  I fell in love with a red and beige one with a simple flower design.  The salesman said he usually sells it for 220 lira, but since I was (allegedly) his first customer of the day, he said he would give it to me for 130 in cash.  I still wanted to keep looking around to see if I found one I liked more or for cheaper, but he said that offer wouldn’t stand if I left and came back.  I was still really unsure, I was between paying around $80 for a silk/cashmere throw I really liked or looking around and possibly finding a better price. I also didn’t have 130 lira on me in cash. His last offer was 130 lira with credit card, which they try to avoid as they have to pay a 5% commission. I was happy with that and walked away with my new purchase. It was a fun but long 5 hours of shopping!  Oh, I forgot to talk about lunch! We found a little area with cafes and we each got a panini, thinking we would be getting a hot sandwich. Apparently in Turkey, panini means a French bread pizza type thing. It was delicious! Mine had ham, mushrooms, and cheese while Steven’s had sausage. 

So after our long day at the bazaar, we went back to the ship with our new treasures to relax.  We then walked a few blocks to the Galata Bridge, which has a bunch of restaurants underneath it.  I thought we were done with the people-in-my-face thing for the day, but every single restaurant had a waiter outside getting in your way and trying to get you to eat at the restaurant. We passed on 2 restaurants, wanting to see what was ahead, but we ended up eating at the 3rd restaurant because the waiter practically pushed us into our seats. We got a 10% discount on our dinner though! I got meat shish, which was deliciously tender meat on a stick served with rice, and Steven got some kind of meat stew that was served boiling hot in an iron pan. Both were very tasty! Shaara had told us that there was a place to get ice cream on the bridge, but we walked the entire thing and didn’t find it. Bummer! We called it a day and walked back to the ship.

For our final day in Istanbul, Steven said he wanted to go to the Topkapi Palace Museums. We had been told in Global Studies that the museum holds the jewels and weapons that belonged to the sultans of the Ottoman empire, and that these jewels made the crown jewels look like rocks.  I was bummed that I couldn’t take pictures of anything, but we saw jewelry, thrones, and weapons completely encrusted with gold, diamonds, emeralds, and rubies. We even saw an 86-carat diamond—it was HUGE! (and had a rope around its case so you couldn’t even get remotely near the thing).  After a few hours in the museum (half the places were closed for some reason) we took the tram back to the ship, ate lunch, and wrote postcards. We tried our luck at the free wi-fi at the Starbucks outside of the port, but there were about 40 SASers there and the internet was too slow. Lame. I’ll have a lot of pictures to upload when I get home!

The stupid questions and comments just keep getting better and better. Today I have two official (spoken by The Voice) and two that I overheard.

1. “Why do I need a Turkish visa if I already have a credit card?” (We needed to buy a Turkish visa if we were planning on leaving Istanbul)
2.  Girl 1: “I wish we had chunky peanut butter on the ship”
Girl 2: “But then the people who are allergic to nuts can’t eat it”

3. “That big statue in Egypt with the body of the lion and the face of a human, what is that called?”
4. “Can we go to Mecca?”

So that’s it. My next post won’t be until Friday at the earliest. Adios!