The first day, I wandered around the hippodrome, the Blue Mosque, and the Hagia Sophia for awhile, taking photos and warding off shills and hawkers. It's really a scene to savor. Pause to take a picture and they (shills and hawkers) descend. Sit on a bench, they hover.
On the hippodrome, it's just tourists ( the prey) and the predators. Nearer the mosques and museums that are important sites to the Turkish people, there are many more Turks. A gregarious bunch, there is always a lively conversation (or maybe a harangue) under way.
After a few hours there, I wandered to the Grand Bazaar. In my view, they should rename it "The Grand Place Where Tourists Are Lured And Fleeced And Which The Turkish People Avoid." First, the only Turks I saw there were working (including some incredible old men carrying rolls or bales of carpet on their hunched over backs up the passageways), and second, all the goods on offer were made for the tourist trade. I searched all over for goat or sheep bells for my friend Barb (her husband Dave apparently tends to wander when she lets him out in the morning), but there weren't any to be found. If only tourist goods are on offer, it's a tourist bazaar. If I can't find a hammer or a lamp shade or a garden hose, it's not a grand bazaar. Sorry, Istanbul, your Grand Bazaar can't hold a candle to the Green Market in Almaty.
It was much more fun to wander in the streets near the GB, where the shops were selling all manner of goods (but not bells for sheep or goats. I was told to head east to find those), and to watch the Englishwomen haggle over goods. And complain to each other how prices had skyrocketed.
I took a nap, and went back out at about 4:00. I was able to get inside the Blue Mosque, an incredible space.
Later, I found my way into a carpet shop and bought a runner and a small silk carpet. I was then led downstairs to the brother's tile shop where I bought some serving dishes and a beautiful blue footed-bowl. The brother kept trying to sell me another piece, but I kept saying no. Finally I told him I would take a picture and send it to my wife and see what she said. I told him I would come back in the morning and let him know.
He told me they opened at 9:00. I laughed at told him that was too late, the day was half over at 9:00. This embarrassed him, so he invited me to breakfast at 7:30 in the shop.
By now it was 7:00, and it started raining. Thunder and lightening, too. So I made it back to the hotel and called it a day.
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