It took us back towards the Old Stanbul part of Istanbul and dropped us off at Rüstempasa (last s to be with cedille), close to Galatabridge and the New Mosque (Yeni Camii), also known as Pigeon Mosque, as legend has it that all the (many!) pigeons round that mosque derive from one couple of pigeons only. Our itinerary had announced we also visit the "Egyptian Spice Bazaar" (with an un-typable Turkish name - for me - since I have by now found out that Turkish fonts can only be bought for quite a lot of money, but not simply downloaded from somewhere, so Misir Çarsisi is just downright WRONG, as none of the i's used has a dot, and - while a c + cedille is to be found, the first s in çarsisi has a cedille, too). But --- it was Sunday! Ha! And the Spice Bazaar is CLOSED on Sundays. Bad luck! So all we could do - also to while away the time until our boat would leave for a tour on Bosporus - was take a quick look at the New Mosque, its surroundings, and the open air market which - Sunday or no Sunday - flourished all AROUND and OUTSIDE the building of the Spice Market.
On Yeni Cami Square, this flag vendor was quite active, and while I hate the blown out sky in the background, I still must like this photo as it is the only one of this vendor I ever got. It was the night of an important football match in Besiktas (both s with cedille) Stadium that night, I think that's why... (maybe).
These two got ready to go into New Mosque for prayer and made use of the long row of taps on the outer wall to wash their feet (ritually).
And despite the fact that shops may not open on Sundays, shopping all around the building of the Spice Bazaar (built in 1664) was thriving!
This one fruit vendor (who seems to be testing his own produce ;-) ) only sold "süper" fruit. Not one apple or melon or whatever else he sold was NOT "süper" =D.
Of course, also spices were sold ... the spice dealers did not need for the bazaar to be open. They as easily sold all their colourful spices on Sundays, open-air for a change, as they would inside the old Bazaar on weekdays.
And then there were those large bottles. Baffled me at first, for they looked too "dirty" to be drinking water... until I took a closer look - oh. Those are leeches! You can buy leeches on the market! That one bottle even boldly said "Doktor" in the side, as if leeches were just the thing the doctore had ordered...
They even sold toys and soft toys out there in the streets, out of big cardboard boxes. But we decided they didn't look friendly enough for us wanting to take any of them home ;-) .
