Egyptian/Spice Bazaar

Today we woke up early (8:30) to have breakfast and check about laundry and bus tickets. We're taking the bus to Ankara tomorrow so that I can go to METU (Middle Eastern Technical University) and meet with some researchers there, and visit the TÖMER language school at Ankara University.

A mosque from our trip in last night; I'm not sure which one this is

We tried to book online last night, but the buses are incredibly full, so we had to wait until this morning to have one of the fellows at reception help us. Some bus companies don't allow men and women to sit next to each other, even if they're married (which we're saying we are, just to minimize the potential for any issues), so that restricts our choices somewhat. The trip back to Istanbul from Ankara should be easier to schedule, as there's many more spaces available––I don't know what it is about the trip there that has so many other people wanting to do it, too!

the baklava from last night (though it's probably not called
baklava)––very interestingly crunchy!

Our bus leaves tomorrow at 10:30 from the Otogar (bus station), which is a ways outside of the center of town, so we'll likely take a taxi there.We checked with the place we'll be staying when we get back, and they said it would be fine to leave our big suitcases there, so we'll drop those off before we head out in the morning. My backpack should be able to hold a change of clothes and the necessities!

After breakfast, I went back to sleep, and was joined soon thereafter by Marcos. We slept until about 3:00, because apparently, we were very tired. Once we'd roused ourselves from our sleepy stupor, we walked down to the next hotel and then to the Egyptian/Spice Bazaar. On the way, we passed the Yeni Cami (New Mosque), but I was not appropriately attired in my above-the-knees dress and lack of headscarf, so we didn't go in.

We did snap some pics of the outside, though!

Instead, we wandered the bazaar, which is smaller than the Grand Bazaar and devoted primarily to food, so you can imagine how much fun I had.

Even with all the people (though it was much less crowded
and terrible than I was expecting!)

I didn't purchase anything, though I definitely will at the Grand Bazaar, but there were a number of tantalizing delights.

Like spices and tea and Turkish delight galore!

We wandered back to our hotel and stopped at a cafe for an early dinner, where we were given an assortment of mezes (cold starters) and chicken döner and rice, which we were instructed to wrap in thin tortillas like a little burrito. It was very tasty, but the bill (50 TL) was not; we agreed we need to get better about asking about prices before we agree to eat somewhere. On the upside, we didn't spend any other money today (save a few lira on snacks [okay, mostly cookies] for our trip tomorrow, and some water), so it's not like it'll broke-ify us.

Some nice lamps at the bazaar

We spent a lot of time walking today, so I am quite tired. I handwashed some clothes, enough to get me through until we get back from Ankara, and now I think I'll do some reading. Marcos went out to do some stock footage and just got back; he said the Grand Bazaar is just beyond the mosque we can see out our window. Pity we didn't go there today!