Istanbul - The Grand Bazaar

The view from my other room
at the Arena Hotel

Having arrived back at the hotel very late, I had a slow morning with a late breakfast and some time updating the blog. I had to check out by Noon but wasn't being driven to the airport until 4pm, so I planned to pick up a couple of the big Istanbul sights that I'd not yet visited: The Aysoha Museum and The Grand Bazaar.

The Black Sea from beside my hotel
(Note the number of ships in view)

There was one task that I performed before the sight-seeing began though, which was to post a parcel of brochures and books that I'd bought back to Australia, rather than lug them around in my increasingly heavy bag. I was given directions to the closest post office and managed to find it easily enough (once I realised it was the Western Union office). Interestingly, the one guy in this small office was absolutely flat-out with a line through the door, all wanting to transfer monies. the customers would bring in wads of cash and the clerk would capture the details of the wire transfer. It was relentless and I imagine that a huge amount of cash goes through this office. He also accepts postcards and parcels, it turns out. The parcel (1.8kg) cost me approximately $6AUD to send home! I can't help but think he charged me the wrong amount, but he seemed satisfied.
I left the hotel and headed off on a bit of a random walk through the Sultanahmet to get to the Grand Bazaar. I knew broadly where I was going and figured I could find the place with dead reckoning. My path took me past the cafe where Dilek and I had lunch so I stopped to have lunch there again, knowing that the food was good and the right price.

Street Scenes of Istanbul

After lunch, I headed more determinedly for the Grand Bazaar and found it quite quickly, although I entered by a 'side door'. This is a famous complex of some 3,000 stalls/shops selling all manner of things: jewelry, rugs, clothing, bolts of cloth, household items, everything! And, typical of bazaars everywhere, every shop keeper busily attempts to lure you into his shop. As I was only there to sight-see, I declined all their offers, or ignored them. I'm a little gun-shy of these places, especially after my experience in Khan Ghalil in Cairo where I was ripped off shamelessly (my fault). I'm not a practiced bargainer and fall prey to my own tendency to not be a great shopper. Once I find something I decide I want, I just want to close the deal, rather than move into a second phase which involves determining an appropriate price. Ultimately, although I know one can get some great bargains in places like this, I'm unconvinced that they are worth the effort involved. At least, for me.
The Grand Bazaar as a place or architecture is pretty impressive. It is a huge rabbit warren that has some 'directions' signs, but part of its attraction is that one quickly gets lost in the dazzling array of shops. In essence, it employs the same tactics as casinos and major shopping malls: you lose the sense of time, space, and your own objectives just by being in the place. I wandered around for a while and then popped out of one of the 'back' doors and started wandering around the rat warren of small streets behind the bazaar. Eventually, I actually managed to hit a dead-end, which I suspect was in a residence or business property. I turned around and went back the way I'd come.

The Grand Bazaar

Interior of the Grand Bazaar
Exterior lanes (behind the Grand Bazaar)

After wandering around for a while, I popped out the 'front' of the bazaar and decided to have a cup of tea. This tea cost 4 Turkish Lira (TL - about $1), which is four times more than you normally pay for tea, but that's the price of drinking tea in a high tourist flow area.

Another Street-side Family Cemetery

The next objective was to visit the Ayosha Museum, a museum of Istanbul and Turkey's history housed in an old mosque. Unfortunately, it is not open on Mondays, I discovered when I got there. I decided that I would just head back to the hotel; frankly, I was tired and didn't feel the need to do more touristing. I did, however, go back to the hotel the long way, so that I could see the rear of the Hippodrome stadium on which modern Istanbul is built.

Former Hippodrome Stadium

I spent the rest of the afternoon reading in the hotel lobby. In the fullness of time, I was driven to the airport (including some innovative back street short cuts to defeat traffic snarls) and waited on my flight to Dubai. There was some celebrity thing going on at the Chanel stand in the airport, but I couldn't see who the celebrity was.