Our cruise at an end we gathered in one of the main areas of the ship waiting for our group to be called to disembark. Everyone was grouped according to their plans - if they were taking a day trip, going to a hotel, were with a group or on their own etc. Imagine the torture - we were LAST. Seriously people we had an entire Grand Bazaar to take on and it was already open - c'mon let us off this ship already! We said our thank yous and goodbyes to the crew we had met and took our bus to the hotel to drop off our bags. Sounds pretentious I know - we were staying at the Ritz - but that was far from the expensive options for after cruise packages! Once again the word opulent doesnt really begin to describe this hotel. Sprawling marble floors, beautiful views, just sheer luxury - kind of cool, although my goal was get checked in and get back to the Bazaar which is exactly what we did.
There are blocks upon blocks of stores in this place. Rows and collections of anything you could imagine. Sterling silver jewlery and accessories, ceramic works of art, belly dance costumes, pillows, pashminas of all types, camel bone boxes, intricate gold and gem jewelry, and some of the most amazing leather pocketbooks (including designer copies that rival the originals). Not to mention turkish carpets. It's just dizzying! After a bit, you cant figure out where you are going or where you've been. Armed with my calculator and my allocated bazaar spending money we were off! You don't know what to buy first - you start looking one place and something out of the corner of your eye catches your attention. The bargaining is fun - they give you a price, you shake your head and act horrified, they ask you what you want to spend, you tell them and they look instulted - so you start to walk away and then it begins until you find a fair middle ground. All the same time trying to convert turkish lira into dollars to figure out what you're really spending. We tried to be mindful of what we were getting - especially after trying to pick up our suitcases leaving the ship - but you get so swept up in the whole process - truly its a blast.
We joked about trading Mom for something really good, but I quickly noticed she was able to get much better bargains than me - be it more respect for elders -or that she's just way better at the whole bargaining thing than me or more likely that we were just having so much fun together there was no way she was going anywhere! We took a break and sat at one of the little food courts in the marketplace and had a bite to eat - the people watching is amazing too.
We decided that it was time to explore the spice market - can you imagine, there was more than one of these places?! Of course we were back to "just 10 minutes" if you walk - which was more like 20, but once again the mass of people in the streets and all the sites along the way made it all part of the adventure (ok we didnt really want to be in those crazy taxis too much either). If you cook, or even if you dont, the spice market it just unreal. You're just surrounded by exotic sights and scents - not to mention like 5 different kinds of saffron for the choosing! Spices, grinders, teas, turkish coffee, candies, nuts. You select your spice, they measure out the amount and vacuum seal it right there for you. We finally ran out of steam, and strength to carry anything more and headed back to the hotel - we had been at it for like 6 hours!
We had a quick snack in the hotel - what a view - you overlook the Bosphorous and all the shipping traffic on it, while eating typical turkish dishes - just another savor the moment experiences.
Our shopping adventures finished, we opted for a bit more of a cultural experience....a real Turkish bath. Everyone will tell you its amazing and wonderful, but they kind of skim over the details so you don't really know what to expect. Talk about your true mother and daughter bonding experience...You start out by taking a steam bath - yikes it is HOT in those things - hotter than the ones at home I'm quite sure. Then you go into the haman - it's all marble. There's a marble platform type thing in the middle where you lie down. All of a sudden you are douced with hot water - the attendant just starts soaking you up and down with bowl and bowl of water. Then...the scrubbing begins - not gentle - really hard exfoliating scrubbing - turkish loofah perhaps? Who knows! They scrub every inch of your body - I'm talking every inch! You flip over and the whole thing starts again as you are scrubbed head to toe. I'm thinking this is a good way to wash off the marketplace for starters. Mind you, your eyes are closed - between trying to relax and not get water in your eyes, so what you feel next is just silky and smooth getting rubbed into your body. At one point I opened an eye and saw what it was - bubbles - like 3 feet high of bubbles. Mom opened her eyes at about the same point and be became damn near hysterical with laughter - all you could see was a bubble mound but you knew there was a body under it! Rinse the bubbles and flip back over to do the other side. Next you sit up and they pour water over your head - and do your face and your hair. Then you stand up and they rinse you again. I'm telling you they dont really miss anywhere. In spite of the modesty issues this is a pretty amazing experience. It's a very old ritual and you are cleansed on the most literal of levels. All I can tell you is that not only were we really refreshed - our skin was really soft too (well what did you expect after the top layer was removed!). You go back out into the waiting area and relax and dry off until you're ready to leave.
We were at this point too tired to even think about going anywhere else for the day...and the anticipation of getting back home started to stir....our trip was really coming to an end....