6-13 Bazaar Delight

The excitement of today did not really start until about 3:30 when we pulled into the port in Istanbul. I was struck by the view because of how unbelievably large the city is. The city covered the huge stretch of coastline.

We started off the afternoon in the Grand Bazaar. Although there are 4,000 shops in the grand bazaar, it was hard to get a really good feel for how absolutely massive it was. I was prepared for a packed market filled with aggressive shopkeepers, but thankfully it was not as extreme in these senses as I expected. We also went to the spice market and tried (and bought a lot of) the Turkish specialty candy, Turkish Delight. In the stores at the spice market they will give you a taste of the things they sell.

After a great Meza, Kebab, Turkish baklava, apple tea dinner at a restaurant with an amazing view, we ended the night at one of the best tourist trap dance shows I have ever been to. There were 3 belly dancers (one who is apparently pretty famous in Turkey) and a few examples of folk dances from regions of turkey.

Istanbul is very interesting for me because this is my first time in a big city of a predominantly Muslim state. It is very foreign to me to see minarets (the towers of the mosque) popping up all over the skyline and to hear the call to prayer from every direction as we walked through the streets.