Day 37- Istanbul, Turkey

I volunteered to go with Andrew to the Grand Bazaar today since he was in Troy when we went the other day. We headed out at about 10 am and made it to the Bazaar by 11am. Our first mission was to find a necklace for his mom. We looked at all sorts of things in the jewelry section of the bazaar which is pretty overwhelming. He finally settled on a silver long necklace with an intricate design. I let him haggle with the salesman as I am not very good at that. Next we looked for a lamp that he wanted. We found one of the hundreds of shops that sells handmade lamps and took a look inside. I helped him pick out a really pretty golden lamp that he plans on hanging in his new apartment. The salesman there was trying to get me to buy something but I didn’t need a lamp so I asked him where to look for musical instruments. He linked arms with me and took off quickly through the shops to his friend who sells all sorts of instruments.

 

We hung out and talked to the shopkeeper in the music shop for almost an hour. Andrew ended up buying a professional kemençe. We had no idea what it was called until we asked the man to write it down. It’s sort of like a violin but you play it upright with a special bow and it only has three strings. It’s really interesting and I can’t wait to see if Andrew and figure out how to play it. (He’s a composition major) After some more browsing we stopped for lunch at the Fes Café where I had an awesome chicken sandwich and we discussed That 70’s Show. (I hope you all get the connection.) We met up with some other SAS kids and made some more purchases before heading to the Spice Market. We browsed and tasted several Turkish Delights. I ran into the man from the market yesterday who was my friend. He offered a sample and I told him I was allergic and he finally remembered me. He laughed so hard and patted my head. I kept my promise and bought some spices from him.

 

Istanbul is an amazing city and I would definitely return sometime. It is beautiful and interesting; there is always something to discover here. It is surprisingly easy to navigate and I feel like I was astounded by something every time I turned the corner.

 

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I had a musical “experience” to write about for my ethnomusicology paper that is due tomorrow.

 

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We left Istanbul…