The Egyptian Bazaar

This week our major outing was a shopping trip to one of the less ancient parts of Istanbul. The Egyptian Bazaar, also known as the Spice Market, has only been around since the mid 1600s. There is another, larger, bazaar that we chose to skip because the sellers there have a reputation for being especially aggressive.



In addition to spices, there are also nuts, prayer beads, evil eye talismans, hand-painted ceramics, silks, metal work, pipes (those brought back some childhood memories) and plates with scenes from Ali Baba (more childhood memories). We enjoyed some samples of authentic Turkish Delight--my favorite was the pistachio.

We wrapped up our morning with lunch at Burger King. Julie could have skipped almost anything on this trip, but BK was on her "must do" list. The young ladies sitting in the booth behind us were fascinated with Hannah Grace and did everything they could to get her to take a picture with them.

Hannah Grace also provided on board entertainment for the ferry ride back to the Asian side of Istanbul. She sang and danced, and when she realized the other passengers were enjoying it, she was even more enthusiastic.

All of our pictures for this day are courtesy of Kevin. He did a great job of getting some good shots.