Istanbul, Turkey: Day 3

Jill and I had to be awake at 7:30 to enjoy breakfast before our trip with SAS entitled “Jewish Tradition in Istanbul.” I must say, though, that after our “preport” meeting where they reiterated the threat of terrorism in Turkey numerous times, going to Jewish places in a Muslim country was not quite so appealing. We began with a short bus tour around Istanbul and then visited our first of two synagogues. The guide pointed out several bullet holes leftover from a 1986 terrorist attack (lovely) and the engraving on the wall dedicated to the nearly fifty people killed in the attacks of 1986 and 2003 (which only killed people on the street as the walls of the synagogue are so thick). To backtrack—and illuminate the small danger of being Jewish in Istanbul—we were required to bring our passports and be searched before entering the synagogue, as well as have been previously added to a manifest and walk through metal detectors. It felt very serious.

Our visit to the second synagogue was much shorter (and the synagogue much smaller), and as the guide spoke to us I zoned out a bit because I realized it was virtually a review of my medieval and ancient Jewish Studies class from this past semester. We arrived back to the ship around eleven to wake up Steph and go to the Grand Bazaar, which I had been looking VERY forward to but which was closed the previous day (Sunday). The Grand Bazaar is an ENORMOUS covered area of shopping, with more than 4000 shops dedicated to anything and everything, from spices and dried fruits similar to the Spice Bazaar, to fur coats and jewelry that cost thousands of dollars.

There is a trick to the Grand Bazaar, however, as it is a place of intense bargaining. The Spice Bazaar was simple as it had set prices; the Grand Bazaar was much more complicated and it became very clear very quickly that I was going to be ripped off no matter what I did. Steph even claimed that the jewelry we looked at, which the vendor claimed was worth hundreds of dollars, was in fact fake and worth much less. In the Grand Bazaar, I found tapestries similar to that of the one I had bought our first night, and when I asked how much they were, the vendor said 100 lyra (about 60 dollars)! Now, I had paid thirty lyra for my tapestry and was having none of that, so I tried to persuade him down to 25 lyra, which he claimed he could do, but only for a kiss on the lips. I less-than-politely declined and moved on. I did end up trading several cheek-kisses for severe discounts, and the male vendors of the Bazaar certainly took a liking to us, especially when Steph bought a soccer jersey to wear. My favorite purchase of the day was a set of teapots handmade in Turkey (so says the vendor) and “completely unique.” Whether or not these are facts, and whether or not 65 lyra was a ripoff, they are elegant and unique in my world and will make an excellent gift to the person I bought them for.

When we returned to the ship, we showered and got dressed. Steph had made it clear that she wanted to go to just one hookah bar in Turkey, since she had not yet, and so it seemed that I was going to be making my third trip to Turkey’s smoking section that night. I invited one person and Jill invited one person and all of a sudden we had a group of ten, walking to the same bar I had been the previous night with Tim. We lounged on the beanbags and enjoyed apple tea with our hookah until about midnight, when Jill, Steph, and I headed back and the rest of the group continued on to the “metal bar,” a headbanger’s Turkish paradise.