The Grand Bazaar

We made it back to the Grand Bazaar, two weeks later, to pick up our purchase. Isn't it lovely?

It's a six-piece tile with a Turkish tulip motif in a range of delightful blues. The ceramic shop is my favorite so far with almost anything in the shop being something that I'd love to bring home. The boy loves it too because of the riot of colors and the occasional animal print showing up here and there. The array of patterns, palettes and objects they are applied to is amazing and this is quite a tiny shop! We are obviously excited to hang this up.

Before our visit to pick this up, we visited the leather shop where I happened to spy this.

Hello handsome! (Note the sleeping little boy in the mirror!) They have great prices and great service at the leather shop. I didn't pick this up today, but it may be in my future. I think it goes well with 1997 Volvo Blue.

This is one possible view you may have before you enter the bazaar. Beyazit Mosque (completed in 1506!), whimsically painted public transportation (Most definitely not the norm. Most buses are your typical corporate colors), orange rubbish bin for contrast.

Where are all the people? Sleeping of course. We rolled in around 10:15 and most Turks do not show up until noon or later. And, alas, all the tourists are gone for the season.

Checking Off The Checklists

This isn't New Year's related at all. These aren't resolutions I'm taking care of. These are activities and destinations I've thought of since before we landed. I am excited it is a new year. I get to see most of my family and in-laws this year, both at home and over here. My boy will be talking and toilet trained and will be sleeping on his own (maybe even through the night!). We have one BIG trip back to the states and I couldn't be more excited and we have a huge list of places to see in this beautiful country before we have to pack up and say our tearful goodbyes next year. A long way off? Not hardly. It sounds weird, but we've been here eight months already and it is frightening how quickly the time is going by. I'm happy to have a whole year to focus on reckless exploring after the first stage of cautious  first footsteps, just like the boy when he was learning to walk. This will be a good year for him and I in that regard.

First up, the Grand Bazaar. Yes, it took me eight months to get to the Grand Bazaar. What's the rush really? We do have time. And our first introduction couldn't have been any better. We had a guide, our dear friend who has been enough times to know most of the proprietors where we stopped. And it was a cool January day with very few crowds and quite a lot of desperate-seeming shopkeeps. I can't be sure but I think we saw about ten percent of the bazaar. We visited a rug shop, the leather goods guy and a ceramic shop. I found plenty of nice stuff at each, but we only ended up with a ceramic tile set, to be seen here at another time. Overall, the Bazaar was nice, especially if you are shopping for gifts or home goods. I don't see it as a must for me on a regular basis, but it is definitely a must see.


The next day I got a guy's day out for a chilly hike through the Belgrade Forest. The Belgrade Forest is a giant park/forest just about fifteen minutes away. We packed a lunch and walked the 6 kilometer runner's trail around a reservoir before finding a rain-soaked table where we ate some cold sucuk (Turkish sausage) sandwiches and had tea and some rather expensive salep.

I was pleased to see that there were a fair number of runners and dog walkers out on such a cool day (4C or about 39F). This park gets insanely crowded during the summer weekends, so it was nice to see it on a calm day.