Bazaars

There are two main bazaars in Istanbul, the Spice Bazaar and Grand Bazaar. Both were much more westernized than I had hoped, full of touristy trinkets. None the less, they were very fun experiences, and with a little imagination I was able to appreciate how magnificent they must have been in their peaks as the centers of trade for the Ottoman empire. Plus, the sales pitches provided some laughs and an ego boost! I managed to come away with some treasures, too (hello, ikat fabric!). I think in the case of the bazaars, the pictures tell you way more than I could hope to, so I'll throw in a few of my favorite sales pitches and leave it at that.

Sales Pitch #1: "Angelina Jolie/Princess Diana/Shakira (who me?), want to buy something you don't need?"Sales Pitch #2: "Angels, you need your Charlie, come here!"

Sales Pitch #3: "Lady, you need lady jeans? Come see my lady jeans" (this just sounded absolutely hilarious to my sisters and I at the time)
Ooo! Look at the next picture- this is the old section of the Grand Bazaar, packed with jewelry sellers. Look at the ceiling, pretty cool right?


And here is Natalie, or as the vendors started calling her "devil girl". At first when they saw her come up they would try to butter her up, "sweet angel, angel girl, come see my watches/purses/whatev." Nat would go in, find what she wanted and completely low-ball the price. They would act alarmed "Oh, no, I could never" and offer a slight reduction. Nat would smile, tilt her head and say "But I'm a poor student! I don't have any money!" And offer a slight bump up in her offer. The vendors would then try to appeal to my Dad, who would cross his arms, laugh and tell them he had nothing to do with our money, they had to deal with us directly. Natalie would haggle a bit, and usually get her "genuine designer fakes" for under half the first price. After purchasing her wallet, pulling out a bigger bill than she said she had, the vendor glared at her and said, "she's no angel, she's a devil girl!" and put his hands like horns above his head, much to the amusement of the other surrounding vendors and our family (I could have told him that!). Here's a picture of Nat with one of her bargains, doing a little victory shimmy.
There's your tour of the bazaars, I'll try to finish up with Turkey tomorrow, and then we can move on to Greece!

Katie