Istanbul – Bazaar – 6

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

The occupations detailed in the museum were those of Nazi Germany and then the Soviet Union. I watched some propaganda films of Estonians literally singing the praises of
Josef Stalin, yet he deported 87,000 Estonians to Siberia. These people were given a small wooden suitcase to pack their belongings in and then were shipped off, sometimes forever, to the Gulags.

Then, in one of those weird coincidences that happen sometimes, I saw that same type of Lenin ‘badge’ that I’d seen in The Grand Bazaar. However, this time the ‘badge’ had a ribbon attached to it and I suddenly realised that what I’d seen in Istanbul wasn’t a badge at all but an Order of Lenin, First Class, a medal awarded to precious few Soviet dignitaries.

Now I understood the steep price in the bazaar.