Yesterday I took the shuttle to Sultanhamet, the part of Istanbul that is tightly packed with mosques and tourists. As soon as I stepped off the shuttle I was hounded by vultures. These are men who prey on unsuspecting tourists by trying to lure them into their business. They wait by the area where all the tourists get dropped off by bus, van or taxi and then they jump with their impeccable English. I can't even begin to tell you how annoying it is.
When I tried to brush the first vulture off he followed me to the Blue Mosque. Then he was, "Why are you being all aggressive? Why you so angry with me?" I told him just wanted to be left alone and that I didn't want to see his carpets. Ugh!
So the Blue Mosque was nice, but nothing to write home about...I am not into big, old churches or what not. I mean the outside is gorgeous, especially the park around it. But the inside smells musty and well, don't shoot me, I'm just not that into it.
Next, I went to the Grand Bazaar. An old man on "his day off" offered to walk me there. He asked if he could accompany me inside and I told him no. I never did figure out what his deal was. Inside was crazy! Those vendors are so aggressive and they jack up the prices! I found some belly dancing shops and almost bought a costume. It was quite nice, but at $260 that was still too high. I still might go back. He was very nice and he had my size which he called the, "special, hard to find" size. Boy was he right about that! The first shop I went to, the seller sent me up these steep, scary stairs to a room filled with bra and belt sets from head to toe! Every one he pulled out was too small for me until I was like, "I'm leaving now, you don't have my size." He told me he did and I told him to keep looking until I came back (which I never did).
Then I went to Ali Baba, which was supposed to have nice costumes...Well, I got a little person for a salesperson, who was smoking like a fiend and I hate to hear myself say this, but he freaked me out. I also went upstairs to the costume room, which was filled to the brim, but I just couldn't did through all those boxes and my shadow certainly wasn't helping...So no costume for me. All I bought was a shawl for Erika. I had to haggle to get the price down, but it is beautiful. A seller at another shop in the Spice market said I got a really good price. Kudos to me! I hope it is real!
Yeah, so then I had lunch and took the tram to the Spice Market, aka the Egyptian Bazaar. I checked out the New Mosque and watched the pigeons. I also visited the Pet/Plant market...which was crazy. They were selling bunnies, leaches, chickens, ducks, turtles, and fish, not to mention the random stray cats hanging out every where. It made me really sad to see the animals in such poor condition.
Anyway, the Spice Market was much nicer. The salespeople are still pushy, but not as bad. There are more locals there, so it is slightly more authentic. Outside of the market there are street vendors and there were a lot of good shops. I bought some food for dinner, because Adam and I decided to stay in. I took the tram back to Sultanhamet and I got there at the wrong time because the tram was soooooo packed it was way uncomfortable. It was commuter time or something, because the tram was full of locals.
I got to Sultanhamet early and I just hung out for an hour or so...I found another market, Aratasu, which Audra told me about. It was ok, still the prices are way too high! Finally, the shuttle came at 5:00pm and I didn't get to the hotel until 7:00! Yep, two hours on the shuttle, smelling diesel fumes and feeling so tired. I was the only one on the shuttle, but the driver was very nice, despite not knowing any English.
So, the reason why the shuttle took forever is that the Olympic torch came through yesterday, so they closed a lot of roads and it was packed. I saw the parade starting earlier that day down by Hagia Sophia, but when I was on the shuttle, they were having festivities at Taksim square and that's where we got stuck.
Adam got really worried about me. I finally got back and let me tell you, I was not in a good mood! Thank God I brought Clif Bars! So I brought dinner for us to eat in the room. It consisted of strawberries, radishes, sesame bagel-type things, cheese, and lots of cookies. :) Adam wouldn't eat my strawberries and I got offended. He said they were dirty because I bought them from a street vendor...his dad apparently told him that Egyptian produce is bad and it will give you hepatitis. First of all, Egypt is far away from Turkey, and second of all, that information is outdated by a couple of decades. We searched the web and couldn't find anything about it...I ate them and I feel fine. But you're not supposed to drink the tap water.Ok, that was yesterday...most of it anyway. I'll explain today after dinner...
