Turkey Trot - Carpets and Grand Bazaar

Turkey Trot - Overview
Turkey Trot - First Class
Turkey Trot - Are We There Yet?
Turkey Trot - Ephesus
Turkey Trot - Mary's House and Basilica of St. John
Turkey Trot - Swissotel Efes
Turkey Trot - Taking the Bus and Priene
Turkey Trot - Putting on the Ritz
Turkey Trot - The Blue Mosque
Turkey Trot - Topkapı Palace
Turkey Trot - Hagia Sophia
Turkey Trot - Carpets and Grand Bazaar
Turkey Trot - Dolmabahçe Palace and Taksim Square
Turkey Trot - Bosphorus Cruise
Turkey Trot - Turning Blu
Turkey Trot - Getting This Turkey Home

We had two stops left on our very full day.  Since we were in Turkey, naturally we had to stop and see Turkish carpets.  We stopped by one of the local shops and were whisked upstairs where we were given a brief demonstration of how the ladies (and it's almost always women) weave the carpets by hand.  It's extremely demanding work, hard on both the fingers and the back, as they bend over their looms.  They can only work a couple of hours at a time.  The salesman, who went to college in New Mexico, explained how the various threads used and the number of knots per inch can impact the price of the finished product.  The more knots, the more expensive the carpet.

The salesman's helpers kept tempting us by throwing out all of these lovely rugs.  And I mean literally throwing them out.  The carpets are stored either rolled up or folded neatly in such a way that for the smaller ones, the men could just unfurl them like a banner or unfold them while spinning the smaller ones like a Frisbee.  We ended up with a big pile open on the floor and D found them so lovely she just had to take a closer look.

D inspects the carpets

Then our salesman rolled out this green one and C fell in love.  She was in the process of renovating her house and the color of this one matched so well that she had to have it.  While it was expensive, even with shipping and customs it was much cheaper than what she would have paid had she bought it here in the States.

This carpet went home with C

Thus having our collective spending obligation met for the entire trip, it was time to move on to the Grand Bazaar.

The Grand Bazaar of Istanbul is one of the oldest covered markets in the world.  There are thousands of little shops along 61 covered streets inside.  It attracts 250,000-400,000 visitors per day and in 2014 was listed by Travel + Leisure magazine as the number one most-visited tourist attraction in the world, with over 91 million visitors.

Grand Bazaar Main Entrance

Construction of the building was completed in the winter of 1460-61 though it has been upgraded numerous times due to fires and earthquakes in the 16th-18th centuries.  It's hard for me to wrap my head around how old this structure is.  Even the castles we saw in Ireland in 2012 were a couple hundred years younger than this bazaar!

One of the many busy streets inside

The streets inside help divide the building into functional areas:

• Jewelry Sellers
• Furniture
• Carpets
• Leather Goods
• Leather and Casual Clothes

However we did see other things sold that don't fit these categories.  One of our primary goals was to find some special tea that D was seeking.  We found the tea as well as spices and sweets.  I found it interesting that all the salesmen were male.  I mentioned it to P, our guide, and she confirmed that was the norm.

Teas

Spices

Sweets

It's a bit of sensory overload here as the streets are narrow and there are always tons of people around but it's definitely an experience not to be missed.