On the day we were planning to go to the Grand and Spice Bazaars, for some reason we had promised the kids we would get them each a lollipop (probably one was denied the day before). We further, naively promised we'd buy them lollipops as soon as we found a store that sold them - Chupa Chups are very common in Turkey, for some reason. Of course the first lollipops we saw were these gigantic saucers on sticks.
They do make nice props for photos, though.
In an earlier page, we mentioned that you only see pigeons at designated pigeon feeding spots. This one was in a public plaza, and the birds made full use of the rough bricks.
We finally made it to the Grand Bazaar.
The Bazaar is not some kind of huge flea market - it's more like a huge mall with 15th century bones. It really is huge - it not only has more than 4000 stores, it has a couple of mosques and several restaurants. The storefronts are for the most part all modern: jeans, t-shirts, decent tchotchkes and souvenirs. If you didn't look up, you'd only notice the really old columns.
But if you do look up, you can see how cool the roof is.
This is an advertising card for the restaurant we ended up having lunch at. That's one of the many fountains in the Grand Bazaar.
We had walked all the way from our apartment to the Bazaar, so afterwards was a good time for a rest. This was inside a courtyard of the Suleymaniye Mosque, known as the second-largest mosque in Istanbul.
It is not far from this entrance to Istanbul University. You have to have ID to get in, unfortunately for us.
Another view of Suleymaniye Camii we saw on the way.
We then walked to the Spice Bazaar. The path leads through bustling retail streets, with areas of specialties (like a bunch of plumbing stores all next to each other). You can see both modern looking buildings:
And older ones:
The Spice Bazaar, while not small, is much smaller than the Grand Bazaar, and is almost entirely food stores. The displays of dried fruit and spices can be really impressive.
This was another place where Eero got a lot of attention. This guy, one of the food shop employees, played grabbed Eero's hat and put it on his head, pinched his cheeks, etc. Eero was a good sport. The guy didn't even try to sell us anything.
You can see Vernon in the back of this Spice Bazaar shop, picking out some food to take back to the apartment for a dinner in.
We decided to take the train back to the Sultanahmet neighborhood, but on the way there was another pigeon feeding area. You can see the water in the background - the train runs along the water right here.
That bird feeding was going on on the steps of the New Mosque. More awesome stonework.
Eero enjoyed the wide open spaces.
This fountain was built by the government to celebrate a visit from Kaiser Wilhelm. It is known as the "German Fountain". The interior ceiling really is that amazing gold color.
