Day Sixty-Three: The Grand Bazaar

Well, we had torrential rain here on days 61 and 62… so we stuck close to home on those days. We tried to go out once to a nearby Art Gallery, but as we stepped outside, the rain and wind were so strong that we were almost immediately soaked (and an umbrella was doing nothing!)

However, by day 63, we were determined to get out, rain or shine. Thankfully, it was more on the shining side, and that suited us just fine because today we were heading to the Grand Bazaar!

We took the tram out to the Grand Bazaar, one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with more than 58 covered streets and over 1,200 shops which attract hundreds of thousands of visitors daily. It was absolutely packed, and nothing could really have prepared me for cultural experience there. As a Canadian, I'm not really accustomed to the idea of Haggling. Here at the Bazaar, however, nothing has price tags on it. You are required to ask the shop owner what the price is, and then expected to talk him down to an acceptable price.

I'm glad Rob took me, because I'm totally not comfortable with this idea. I'm really bad at guessing what something is worth!

We saw so many different things there. The Bazaar has pretty much everything you could ever want (and everything you WOULDN'T want as well). You can find leather jackets, gold and silver jewelry, pottery and ceramics, clothing, spices, teas, lamps, and nick-knacks of all shapes and sizes. It was pretty overwhelming; shop keepers are trying their best to lure you into their stalls with promises of great deals and a friendly demeanor.

We did purchase a few things, and I think Rob managed to squeeze some reasonable prices out of them.



My favourite part, though, was this one ceramics shop called Pırlanta that happened to catch our eye. The salesman's name was Osman, and he invited us into his store to check out his wares. We were looking for a birthday present for Anne, we explained, and we wanted to find something special. Osman was absolutely thrilled and he promised to explain to us the differences in the quality of Turkish ceramics, which we found very helpful. Apparently there are three different qualities of ceramics, which include the intricacies of the hand-painted patterns, the weight and thickness of the ceramics itself, and the quality of the glaze used. According to Osman, the paint used contains lead, and there are different glazes used to seal this paint. Some of the glazes are too thin to protect from lead poisoning and therefore means that the ceramics cannot be used practically; they are only for decoration. The highest quality is a triple quartz glaze, which allows the ceramics to be used in everyday ways.



We ended up buying a beautiful vase for Anne, and another one for us. Osman was a wonderful salesman. He took the time to make us feel comfortable with our purchases, brought us hot apple cider, and talked with us about different traditional ceramics and their original uses. Thanks Osman!