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Mon, 21 Apr 2003

author Tim location Gen¨türk Cadessai 29, Laleli, Istanbul, Turkey (SULTAN)
posted 22:43 EEST section Europe2002/Asia/Turkey ( all photos )

Contact with Home for Easter, Spice Bazaar ( 45 photos )
Happy Easter to those back in Christian countries, it's easy to forget it all here since we have only seen one (yes one) chocolate bunny in all our wanderings around here. We have to admit it is nice to be away from the constant "buy chocolate now!!" advertising that has become all to much in our culture. I'm not a religious person, but for those who are, it's a pretty astounding place here in Istanbul. Their beliefs, whether you agree with them or not, are followed closely, and stuck to through thick and thin, although it is easy to see this becoming less so in the younger generations.
This morning we awoke to call the traditional Gould family Easter gathering back home at Mum and Dad's place, so we wandered down to a phone box, put in our phone card we purchased yesterday for about seven aussie dollars, which gives you one hundered "credits". This lasted all of about four minutes, during which we were quickly passed around for a "hello, are you going well?" with everyone there. Great to hear voices, it was however a shame that we couldn't chat longer. The government has a strong monopoly on telecoms here which means that there are no ultra-cheap phone cards like we can get in the UK. Oh well, can't have everything I guess.
Before I forget, how would you like one of these at the end of your road? We have one here - very pretty if you can deal with the Call to Prayer five times a day!
After the phone call, we wandered into town in search of breakfast. That meal here seems quite elusive. You can either have one of several breads/pastries, something sweet, or a kebab. None of these really appealed, and we searched out a little cake shop / cafe where we got some half pastry half meat thingies (ok, still pastries but we tried!) which were nice, as well as cheap.
After eating those sitting in the park, we decided that we wanted to head off to the Spice Bazaar. Similar to the Grand Bazaar we have been to a few times now, this one specialises in all things tasty and good, so we needed to search it out. Heading off in the rough direction, we eventually made it down to the water on the North side of the Istanbul peninsula (that's under the Golden Horn), where Liz had some barbequed fish on a roll which they cooked on a boat attached to the water-side. An interesting concept, the boats rocked crazily whenever a ship passed by (which was very frequent).
From there, we fought off touts, and found peace under the Galata Bridge, where we had our first beer in days (they drink very little here compared with England). After relaxing in the great weather for a while, we were approached by what we first assumed to be just another annoying local attempting to find a new home for our foreign currency. However, this man turned out to be friendly enough, having friends in Australia, and just wanting to talk. Perhaps he wanted to practice his English. It is sad in a way that the Turkish touts do the rest of their country-folk a disservice by making the tourists weary of anyone walking up for "a chat". Everyone seems friendly, but then just want to sell you something or other.
As it turned out, this guy owned the kebab and fish restaurant next door and simply said "if you are back here some time, why not drop in?" Well, we might just do that.
Some of the great lines we have had layed on us as we walk around the stores:

Next stop was the Spice Bazaar. This is probably our favourite thing here so far. The variety of things available for purchase is quite mind-boggling, and the aromas as you wander around, well you'll just have to imagine for now.
Not suprisingly, we got asked to sample lots of things, which we did, including strange nuts, and plenty of varieties of Turkish Delight. Liz decided to purchase a couple of the latter, which I'm suprised to stay are still intact - they're one of her favourite!
On the side of the Spice Bazaar, we found the Pet and Garden Bazaar (don't think too hard about a correlation between the different Bazaars - there's no evidence of anything but cleanliness and healthy handling everywhere). In the Pet Bazaar, you could purchase anything from a dog to a leech! Despite the fact that these animals are all in small enclosures, there seemed to be higher turn-over of stock than in Pets Paradise shops and the like in Westfields back home.
Next, we decided to work out a quicker way back to our hotel than the way we had arrived there, which had been following the tram line. Instead, we picked the most direct route our noses pointed out, which took us through some amazingly steep and narrow roads, where it looked like no tourist had set foot in centuries. Exactly what we were after. I guess we shouldn't be surprised at how much the prices change between the central tourist areas and the areas where the locals eat, but we still are.
Back to our hotel for a while, we rested for the afternoon before setting out with one target in mind - a visit to the Blue Mosque. However, contrary to all information we could find, it was closed for tourists by the time we arrived at 6:30pm or so, so we intend to get back there tomorrow morning. On the way, we had a strange Turkish Pizza (not pide), which was flat with a small amount of cheese and tomato topping, wood-fired with parsley and lemon juice. Nice stuff, and about 60 Australian cents!
After we had been down to the Blue Mosque, we then looked for a proper dinner. First attempt was a open roof-top cafe, which turned out to be the most disappointing meal thus far - paying more for the atmosphere (great sun-drenched location) than the chefs.
Next try (yes we thought we were still hungry after all that - Turkey does that to you!) was a restaurant we had walked past a few times earlier, on the main tram-line-road, where they had the only live Turkish music we had seen. However, we should have guessed that it would have been a massive tourist trap, full of Aussies here on ANZAC tours (pot calling kettle black, I know!), and supplying silly Sultan's turbans, fezs (little round hats which have actually been outlawed here for 70 years but still somehow have that tourist appeal) and other traditional garb which you could get dressed up in.
Between the annoying serenading live music (they were quite good, but pointing to the 1,000,000 lire note already under the violin's bow and saying "excuse me sir" was a bit much given the food prices), and the waiter's closing comments ("Don't you want more food?" - we had only ordered an entre and not eaten much of it, and as he put the bill down "Remember, service charge not included"), this all strengthened our opinions that the only real way to experience foreign cultures is to spend the vast majority of your time and money where the locals do.

Arriving back at our hotel, we noticed for the first time since we arrived that there are now signs for On the Go around the place, informing us that there is breakfast provided tomorrow in the hotel between the un-godly hours of 7am-9am, and listing our names in groups on the busses. It appears that there is only myself and one other male on our bus! How am I going cope with fourty or fifty nagging females? ;)
After that, we aim to wander back to the Internet cafe we found the other day before ticking quite a few items off our Istanbul sight-seeing checklist.
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