Day 13 - Shopping in Istanbul

-I got a slightly earlier start on Tuesday, intending to therefore have more time at the Palace Museum. Got all the way there and, "Sorry, Palace is closed on Tuesdays." So, fine. No museums in Istanbul.

Parts of the Old City Walls

Parts of the Old City Walls

-I considered, for a brief moment, going to the pier and maybe taking a ferry to the Maiden's Tower, but my feet screamed in protest so I thought it best to just go and find some lunch. Had a 'pide' for lunch (recommended to me by Ilker), which is basically a gravy-boat-shaped pizza.

-After lunch I decided to do something I never do while traveling. I went shopping. I had cash to burn (not a lot, but more lira than I needed for the next 24 hours), so I headed back towards the Grand Bazaar to see if anything struck my fancy. On my way there, just around the corner, there was a little street under an archway entitled "Old Bazaar" with a few shops along one side, so I thought I'd take a look. One of the shop owners caught me browsing his shop, and spent the next 30 minutes playing "101 Ways to Tie Amelia's Scarf". There was the 'butterfly', the 'rose', the 'jacket', one he couldn't remember the name of and named it the 'Amelia'....sigh..I finally escaped and headed into the Grand Bazaar.

The "Old Bazaar"

The "rose" lol

-I first indulged in two boxes of Turkish Delight (intending to share them with my friends in Egypt but secretly hoping to eat most of it myself), found some pointy shoes and a funny hat to match, a cool decorative string with hand-painted elephants and a bell on the end, and a necklace which I got for 40 lira instead of the 90 he tried to sell it to me for. I laught when he said 90, and started to saunter away, lamenting how I unfortunately didn't have 90, and could only afford 40 but thanks anyway; he jabbered away about it being too low, then changed his tune when he saw me still walking away and said okay okay, I could have it for 40, just to make me smile. He boxed it up, and as I took it home I thought reflectively that I could probably have gotten it for 30 if I'd been smarter, but oh well. Had a cappuccino in a little cafe, then took the tram two stops and walked several blocks to see the Aquaduct.

The Aquaduct

-It was getting late, so I grabbed a kebab-to-go near the tram station, spent an hour on the tram getting back to Ilker's, and enjoyed an evening of Kebab, pizza (that they had ordered right before I got home), and music. Ilker's roommate, Ersan, spoke almost no English, but we bonded as I taught him how to better play and take care of his clarinet and read the music for it, and he taught me a few guitar chords, then played and sang for me.

Helping Ersan with clarinet fingerings

Ersan teaching me a few chord fingerings