Our first full day in Istanbul we had a lovely surprise by having our midday break being spent in the famous spice market of Istanbul! The spice market was wonderful, all the shop keepers were trying to get you to come into their shop and buy from them even though they are all selling the same thing. Tip one, do not go to the first shop you see, it is normally the most expensive, but not always. Tip two, walk through the whole thing, experience it, compare prices, and then buy. Tip three, have a list of the spices you want to get for yourself or for other people so that you do not get overwhelmed by all the choices or so you do not forgot any ones that you wanted to get:) Something I did not know about the spice market is also the many, many options of tea sold there. Which every shop keeper will offer you a glass of (normally of your choice). Suggestions take them up on the offer because I am not a tea person but this is some of the best tea I have ever had and ended up buying some.
On Saturday we went toe the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul, in Istanbul there are many bazaars but the one we went to is most famous and massive. The Grand Bazaar is overwhelming to say the lease, it makes the spice market look like a little shop in comparison to the maze that creates the Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar is filled with pashmina shops, tea shops, jewelry shops, dish shops, carpet shops, tourist shops, metal shops, and almost every single one of them selling Turkish Delights. The tips I just gave for the spice market applies to the Grand Bazaar but a few more added on. In the Grand Bazaar you bargain for everything, so when someone tells you a price cut it by at least half and offer them that, shop keepers as sweet as they can be jack up the prices to take advantage of tourist who come from countries where prices are fixed. But the most important piece of advice is to realize to walk away because you are going to find the same thing in another shop and if you actually do not (which is highly unlikely) then you can go back for the item you want. Now when I was going to Turkey everyone kept telling me how cheap the jewelry was, but for my standards it was not that cheap since most of the jewelry you find is real silver and real stones and then you pay by weight of the piece it regards to what it is made out of. After you are done shopping, do not worry about the deals your friends got because if you are happy with what you got then that is all that matters, and remember that!
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