Random Turkey Photos
26 Saturday May 2012
The Grand Bazaar
25 Friday May 2012
Tags
Laura, Lucas, Travel, Turkey, Istanbul, Grand Bazaar, Sultanahmet, Bazaar
So after getting in pretty late last night from our two day tour down to Gallipoli and Troy, we had a pretty slow morning all tolled.
After eventually getting up and going we had out sights set on one thing, and one thing only – the Grand Bazaar.
Weaving our way through the streets of Sultanahmet, we headed in the general direction of the Bazaar… It’s almost as if the traders can sense your approach – must be the smell of fresh wallets in the air. The lead up to the Bazaar itself is surrounded but other smaller traders and stalls, a micro bazaar units own right.
Walking through the outside stalls and passing though the arched entry way into the Grand Bazaar you immediately sense the scale of the place, and mere meters inside you have been consumed by the labyrinth of alleys and narrow streets that run up and down – there is no escaping the seduction of the vendors within the Grand Bazaar now. You are on their turf and you will play by their rules, and doubtless to say – they will win you over, and “help you spend your money” (as one vendor quoted to us) in any which way you fancy.
Pausing to soak it all in is difficult. There Bazaar is typically awash with vendors, tourists, and everything in between. Today we have encountered what I am told is a slow day – even so the place is still buzzing – however I could imaging the place being easily twice as busy.
Finding a quieter place to the side of one of the alleys we did manage to pause and observe. The ceilings are painted with featuring frescos,the streets and alleys are lined with stalls and shops – each overflowing with the specific wares on offer, be it plates and ceramics, carpets, jewelry, trinkets, clothes (all knock off’s), any type of leather product you would want, bags, spices, Turkish delights, or musical instruments.
Walking past each store, the vendors will offer to show you their goods or attempt to coax you into their store – “Come inside, I’ll show you good price…”, or “I have others, come in…”. They are all typically very polite about it, which makes it even more difficult to ignore them or say no and keep walking. They are very attuned to our cultural style (or just bloody good guesses) and pick up immediately where we are from – “Your an Aussie… from Melbourne?”. Not one got it wrong.
Again this is part of the buying process – this is their ‘foot in the door’ so to speak. They know once they can get you to respond – its on… Just like fishing, they keep casting out into the crowd their bait of words, hoping for a bite. Once they have this, it’s their job to carefully reel you in and hopefully land the purchase – at an inflated price, but one that has come down considerably through the haggling process.
While they vendors can often have a poor reputation, and stories are told all too often about someone getting stuck in a carpet shop, being feed apple tea until the point of hallucination, and then waking up two days later to find they just spent $1,000 on a knock off carpet they didn’t even like – and have no way to get home… To be honest our feeling was that they vendors were actually all fairly well mannered. Some would defiantly be more persistent than others, but this is their lively hood. At no point did we feel pressured into purchasing anything. You do need to be strong, and you do need to have an idea of what your prepared to spend. The vendors know their bottom price and won’t let you push them below it. If this is still higher than your expectation, then continue to shop. If you keep getting the same answer, then you may need to reset your expectation, or keep looking. There is also a line between quality and cost. Often the vendors will see you pushing for a cheaper price, and will move to show you a different piece – “this one is the same, but cheaper” – now you have to ask why… Typically it will be of lower quality, and suddenly the bargaining you have just done on the better item has been rest without you knowing because you’ve been moved to a completely different product – a cheaper knock off version that no doubt has similar mark ups applied.
Doubtless to say, you need to go to the Grand Bazaar in the right frame of mind. Be prepared to look around for the price you think is fair. Be prepared to bargain. Be prepared to not get it your way. And most of all – be prepared to enjoy the experience. You shouldn’t go to the Grand Bazaar expecting to get one over on the vendors. You need to set out your budget and if you come in under or around it then be happy for the experience. If you end up spending way too much money and feel you were ripped off – this is not the vendors fault. You were not prepared, and not strong enough to keep your cash in your wallet.
And one last piece of advise – its only a bargain if you actually need it.
Anyway all told we had a great afternoon out at the Grand Bazaar. We managed to pick up a few pieces we liked at prices we thought were reasonable.
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Mythical Troy
24 Thursday May 2012
So after out day in Gallipoli, our tour takes us across the narrows of the Dardanelles to Canakkale which is in the Asian side of Turkey, an where we spend the night before heading of to nearby Troy (Troya) in the morning.
Troy is about a 30 minute bus ride out of Canakkle. We arrive to an overcast drizzling morning – its about now we wished we had packed our rain coats!
Walking through the archeological site that is Troy was very interesting, and our local guide again provided lots of details and background about the site.
One interesting fact relates to the site of Troy itself. Troy of legend and myth was a sea port – the actual location is somewhat inland (although the Dardanelles are visible from the high vantage point).
The belief is that thousands of years ago when Troy was prospering it was actually a sea port as described in the legends and myths. It is thought that heavy silting bought on by earth quakes in the region over time forced the narrowing of the mouth of the Dardanelles which in turn caused the sea to subside and form solid land – which is now in use as extremely fertile cropping country.
As with many other cities within Turkey, Troy saw its fair share of occupying rulers – the Trojans, the Greeks, and the Romans. Each new occupation saw dramatic reshaping of the earlier Troy – either because it had been raised to the ground from the conflict, or the new rulers wanting to inject their own cultural influences on the region.
This resulted in 9 different levels of Troy – all built on top of the ruins of the previous, and clearly visible as you walk through the archeological site.
All in all it was a very interesting tour. The only downside is the 6 hour bus ride back to Istanbul, which included the obligatory stop at the purpose built tourist trap buffet and shopping complex – glad we ate before we left 5TL for 2 Kebabs in Canakkale or 13TL each for crappy buffet in the middle of nowhere).
Gallipoli
23 Wednesday May 2012
Today we are on an overnight tour that will take us down to Gallipoli (Gelibolu) and then overnight in Canakkale (on the Asian side of Turkey), and the a tour through historic Troy before heading back to Istanbul later in the evening of the second day.
The trip from Istanbul down to Gallipoli took almost 5 hours on our small private tour bus – 11 people in group all up.
Arriving into the Gallipoli peninsular, our first stop was in Eceabat (historically a Greek town known as Maydos, but renamed by the Turks) – the reason for stopping here is so we can have our fill at the local tourist trap.
After lunch the actual tour started. Our guide joined us and we headed off for ANZAC cove. Over the course of the next 5 hours we visited many of the important and historic sites (including the landing beach, war graves, shrapnel valley, the Nek, Lone Pine, and the all important high ground – Chunuk Bair, that are spread around the peninsula.
The scenery around ANZAC cove and the views from Chunuk Bair were breath taking, and it is so hard to believe that almost 100 years ago this was the site of such a bloody battle where thousands of young ANZACs and Turks alike lost their lives. The cold reminder of this is littered everywhere… just out of sight but there if you know where to look, and what your looking for. Small pieces of shrapnel and bullets litter the ground and are very easy to find especially after a good rain.
Seeing first hand the terrain that the ANZACs faced on arrival really makes you think how anyone survived. The short length of beach, the high limestone cliffs, the overgrowth – how anyone made it to the top alive in the dark is beyond belief.
One of the hardest things for me to comprehend was how close the trenches were together – the best example of this is on the way up to Chunuk Bair where the single lane road is all that separates the trenches – Turkish trenches on the right, ANZAC trenches on the left. Absolutely amazing… No more than 6-7 meters separating the two – quite literally the width of the single lane road.
All up I am extremely glad to have done the tour. Our guide was excellent and provided lots of detail and stories about each of the sites we visited.
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Istanbul Day 2 – Blue Mosque, Aya Sophia, Spice Bazaar, Taksim Square and Kebabs
22 Tuesday May 2012
Tags
Laura, Lucas, Travel, Turkey, Istanbul, Blue Mosque, Aya Sophia, Spice Bazaar, Taksim Square, Kebab
So our second full day in beautiful Istanbul has been packed with sight seeing – all the usual touristy places: The Blue Mosque, Aya Sophia, The Spice Bazaar, and Taksim Square (notably we are leaving the Grand Bazaar for a later day).
Up and out reasonably early this morning our hotel is well positioned only a short walk to both the Blue Mosque and Aya Sophia. Up the hill and to the Blue Mosque first.
Joining the hundreds of other tourists that had already made their way to the Mosque, you find yourself queuing to get through the doors. Inside the Mosque is beautiful – massive low hanging chandeliers light the large inside space. Patterned carpets decorate the floors throughout and are used to assist in alignment for prayer.
After taking in the beauty of the Blue Mosque, it’s a short walk across the square to the Aya Sophia. By the time we had arrived here a large queue had now formed – although we found it moved quickly. Buying our tickets and passing through the security screening we entered the grounds of the Aya Sophia. Entering the Aya Sophia reminded me of many of the large ancient cathedrals we have visited throughout Europe. Inside is a massive open area with huge ceiling frescos, and low hanging chandeliers.
Upstairs contains some beautifully delicate mosaic frescos made up of thousands of tiny intricate tiles. Some of the mosaics have been damaged over time, but considering their age are actually remarkably well preserved.
After the first two touristy sights now ticked off the list, we decided to walk the streets of Istanbul and headed deeper into Saltanahmet before turning towards the sea to locate the Spice Bazaar. Our wanderings took us up and down many different and diverse streets and lane ways. We find one of the best and fun ways to explore a city is without a map and only a general sense for where you are headed – you always end up uncovering some little gem that makes your time in the city great. Today we found what I would have to describe as the best kebab place in the world.
In a little side street, not too far from the Spice Bazaar, we were drawn to a small kebab shop, called Sehzade Erzurum Cag Kebabi. The feature that drew our attention was a large wood fire and slow roasting lamb spit in the front of the store. The smell was amazing. This wasn’t your typical take-away fast food kebab place… This was the real deal, and we couldn’t pass it up.
Sitting down right next to the lamb spit, the wait staff quickly sorted our order out – two lamb kebabs each, bread, salad, chilli, and spiced onion. Sitting right next to the spit gave us the opportunity to watch the master kebab chief at work, carefully turning the spit to identify the best cooked meat, then craftily cutting and threading it onto a skuer. By this time our mouths were well and truly watering – nothing smells quite as good as lamb cooking over the fire… And I can assure you the taste was absolutely amazing!
After our fill of succulent lamb kebabs for lunch, we continued on wandering the streets and eventually found our way to the Spice Bazaar. Walking inside is a dizzying display of every spice, tea, nougat and sweat preserved fruits you could imaging – with the occasional plate, shoe or carpet store springing up in between. Resisting the urge to enter into any purchase we pushed on through the crowds and eventually emerged on the other side and back into the open street.
Next we crossed the river and continued walking in the aim of finding Taksim square. After a for walk we decided we had made a wrong turn at some point having now passed the port and the university – which we knew were close but not where we wanted to be. Unfortunately with the water on our right, this meant we had to go left… Up the really big hill. So, with no other option, up we went. After about a kilometer of walking up what could only politely be described as a bloody steep hill we emerged in Taksum square – to the relief of us both. What better time than now to pull up a seat in a cafe and indulge in a short break and a cool drink.
Taksim square was abuzz with people – all seemingly coming and going from nowhere. So after looking around for a while we headed back down the hill via the pedestrian street walkway to take in some of the retail sector.
At the bottom of the hill we decided to jump onto a tram and headed back to the hotel to rest up for a few hours before heading back out later tonight for dinner.
