Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar

Tom found a driver to take us to Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, supposedly the most visited attraction in the world, as hard as that is to believe.

We were there within 20 minutes, and luckily for us it was a quiet Monday morning.

Hundreds of tiny shops sell spices, leather goods, chess sets, clothes, coffee, tea, and sweets,  but many are virtually identical. How do they all scratch out a living?

We drove to another market and stopped at a shop owned by an old friend of Tom and Ellyn.

We dined on lentil soup and surprisingly disappointing donor kebabs.

Later we drove to the Spice Market, dating from the 1649s, and Tom and Greg bought some spices.

There’s a lot to see and smell here.

Even hot spices for your mother-in-law…

Then it was back to Riviera in time for Team Trivia and a 3:00 pm sail away.

It was interesting to return to Turkey after so many years.