Day III- bazaars

The Grand Bazaar is typical yet no bore. Coming from the West, I can see how this would be more eye-popping than it would be for an Asian, particularly and Indian. Think Palika Bazar In Delhi or Heera Panna in Mumbai, but more organised in some ways, much more colourful, and mostly very friendly. We wander around, relaxed and interested. Fortunately we are not looking to shop beyond the odd souvenir for ourselves and lubbed ones. We did not, somehow, take more than the odd photo- though the colours offer great subjects…


Unfortunately we can’t find a place to eat. The one- not so cheap lokantasi (where we decide we will share a dish) has little left- it is 3pm and way past lunch time. We walk out, and after buying some shot glasses (yay!) onward to Spice Bazaar. But our eyes and stomachs are aware, and at 4pm, we see this place:
and have these
They’re pretty good, filling and we are satisfied. As usual, on our walk toward the Spice Bazaar we are running a bit tight for time- so no photos are taken of the bustling street, the very small-town India feel of the roads (streets?) we walk on- with cleanliness thrown in- the number of interestingly-faced locals and kids(this is not probably the usual route to the Spice Bazaar- that’s from the Eminonu side). Eventually we reach the Egyptian Market or Spice Bazaar.
It is gorgeous. There’s nothing to it, really- but it seems to be in a cavernous few corridors with high ceilings and the subtlest of smells wafting past your nose- not assaulting it, just gently teasing it. Then we notice shop after shop of spices. There’s some other stuff, sure- the inevitable and gorgeous nazars- but mostly, there are heaps of spice- cardamom, cumin, saffron, Turkish saffron, pepper, chilli, paprika, oregano…..(check out these pics)

We see, we smell, we think that we should surely pick up something from here. We meet Dr Avijit Dutt, a Bengali in London who buys spices here all the time (?)- either orders them through people or buys them when he comes, like this time on a conference. And he is not joking- looks like he's buying enough to last a year! We, instead, look for soap- D buys a bar of olive soap. Olives? They are way more expensive than you’d think- and then eventually two kinds of chilli powder. ( we have yet to use them- but can’t wait!)