Istanbul - Spice Bazaar

The Spice Bazaar was one of my favorite places in Istanbul.  I just loved seeing the huge sacks of spices of all different kinds.  We ended up buying and bringing back quite a few spices and also some tea.  Real tea.  Not the Lipton tea bags.  We really enjoyed drinking the Turkish tea at every meal.  The Husband joked that our one tea mixture looked like cannibus and we would get stopped in Customs.  It is a tea for destressing (although we bought it because it smelled delicious) so maybe there are some drugs in there.

The Spice Bazaar also sells some kitschy souvenirs.  I bought a pashmina since I wear them as scarves all winter and can never have enough colors.  Some people collect shot glasses or post cards when they travel.  I collect pashminas.  I have them from at least England, Italy, Austria, and Turkey now.  They had some beautiful designs and high quality materials.  I went with the cheap stuff though since they are forever getting snagged on my jewelery and coat zippers.  Mine was 10 Turkish Lira ($7).  They had ones available for a couple hundred Turkish lira.

We also bought a tea set.  Our bargaining skills here failed us.  The pashmina I wanted was priced at 13 Turkish Lira.  I was going to offer 9.  So I got ready to bargain and asked the shop owner what the price was.  He said 13 Turkish Lira but really 10 Turkish Lira.  So I said done.  I don't have it in me to haggle over 65 cents.  The Husband also had a huge failure with his bargaining for the tea set.  He tried to offer lower but the shop owner insisted that he was only making a 3 Turkish Lira profit above what he bought it for.  We just aren't the arguing and aggressive types.

I wish I'd picked up some of the beautiful bowls and plates shown in the last picture.  They're such vivid colors and designs and the prices aren't too expensive.