Istanbul – Spice Bazaar – 2

This extract is from ‘Travel Tales from Exotic Places like Salford’

“You should come into the shop and then when you have bought a carpet you will have even less money,” he smiled.
“No thank you.”
“Where are you from?”
“England.”
“London?”
“No, further north.”
“Business is bad this year – due to the globbal cresssssus.”
“The what?”
“The globbal cresssssssus.”
“Oh, the global crisis.”
Although it’s called the Spice Bazaar they don’t sell just spices.

I was writing down all the things on sale there and I was asked what I was doing by another stallholder (they can all speak good English and other languages too).
“I have written down everything on sale here.”
“Really? Why?”
“I wanted to remember – cushion covers, Turkish viagra, lamps, plates, caviar, silver, carpets, cashmere, sausage, the evil eye, kebabs, linen, watches, belts, t-shirts, frilly baskets, bowls, glasses, jewellery, cups, ice-cream, rings, and perfume.”
“Yes we sell everything here.”
Two days later I visited the Grand Bazaar and was still taken aback by the size and scope of this covered market. After having my camera bag searched, I entered via Gate 2
and quickly found myself in the area selling T-Shirts, which I was interested in buying. The repartee of the stallholders was soon illustrated.