Parallel & Perpendicular

When I walked out of the hotel this morning (as Michael left to go the University to teach) I was determined not to get lost!!!  Since the streets are in a grid format, I decided to not worry about which street I was on, but instead to remember if I was walking parallel or perpendicular with the street that housed the hotel and also to remember if I was on the front side of the hotel or the back side.  This was a much easier approach as I always knew at least the general direction of the hotel!!!!

I knew that I wanted to head back toward the market area of town and enjoyed walking along and looking in the various stores.  There were several people sprinkling or throwing water on the sidewalks.  I thought that they were just getting rid of their cleaning water, but I also saw one man sprinkling water from a bottle.  My only thought is that they were trying to control some of the dust from the sidewalks…..we will never know!!!

I stopped in one shop that carried all sorts of glass goods and cooking items….bowls, pans, etc.  The thing that caught my eye was a salt and pepper shaker that was an interesting design.   There were no prices, so I asked at the counter how much it was.  The two young men hesitated so I pulled out my small calculator and he punched in 15 but said 25.  I tried to ask which amount he meant but finally just gave him 15 Lira and he was happy with the transaction.

I found myself constantly looking down so that I wouldn’t stumble on broken bricks but stopped at one corner and saw this beautiful building.  I love the colors and they really stand out in this city…..

I passed the military post but didn’t linger (for obvious reasons)…..

I passed this large pile of firewood….. I looked around the corner and saw them chopping all of this by hand….what a job….

Here are a few street scenes from the market area of town where the shops spill out onto the sidewalk..…. I assume that they bring all of this in every night although that would be quite a big job!!!

I have passed many small vegetable markets but this was the first “dried fruit and nut” market that I had seen.  I love that the proprietor is sitting on a bag of something….

As you can imagine, this display caught my eye!!!! The fabrics were  beautiful colors and were a heavier fabric.  I didn’t buy any here because we have a guide to take us thru the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul and she is a textile importer.  I figure that she can help me with fabrics there!!!

I ended up at the tourist bureau…..

Interestingly, there is no tourist information there but there was a lot of fun children’s art….

I especially liked these weavings…..

Some of the art was more sophisticated…sorry for the angle on this photo!!

And obviously, they had done a class in paper marbling.  There were some wonderful examples of this technique…… 

Once again Michael called to say that he was on his way to pick me up and this time, thankfully, I knew where I was and how to get back home again!!!!