The city of bazaars

Started late today, I had to dry my tent because I packed it wet, after consulting with the innkeeper, I was allowed to do it on the breakfast terrace. Until the end of breakfast time, I took care of my dirty laundry, with Rei in the tube and my sink, it was quickly done.

Then it started

Istanbul, a city of bazaars.

Today I walked about 20 km through Beyoglu and my neighborhood. It seems to me that there is a separate street with attached bazaars for everything and everyone. It started with a street for men's underwear, turned into the next street, there were bridal gowns, and so on. Streets with gold dealers, DIY supplies and tools, electricians, and finally, I was in the street of car and motorcycle workshops. But the spice bazaar pleased me the most. It is located in a covered passage and you feel like in one thousand and one nights. Spices from all over the world, all sorts of delicacies, the scent simply indescribable. Of course, everything is totally chaotic, you are approached at every stand.

But there were also quiet corners, a small café strategically located invited me to linger.

Strategically located? Yes, indeed. It was on the way to the Galata Tower. The climb there is done via an endlessly long staircase, and halfway there is the café.

I skipped the visit to the tower. The line of people wanting to enter was endless. I preferred to continue walking in the shade. In this area, a busy shopping street, there were even sidewalks. But be careful, they are also used by scooters that snake through the crowd at breakneck speed.

When it became too much for me, I retreated to the side streets.

It was unimaginable, stacked boxes everywhere and busy activity. Apparently, new goods had arrived for the shoe store street. Trucks reverse as far as they can in the narrow alleys, where they are unloaded by hand. The boxes are loaded onto hand carts, similar to a sack truck, and then distributed to the shops, according to a system that I could not figure out. The men with the hand carts had a tough time. There were quite steep inclines to overcome.

Eventually, in the heat, I gave up and hailed a taxi. The driver started immediately. When I showed him on the phone where my hotel was, he stopped and indicated to me that it was in the wrong direction, he would have to take a huge detour to go the other way. I should rather get off, cross the street, and take a new taxi there, which I then did. That was fair, he could have taken the detour with me and earned a good fare.

So I waved down the next taxi. He took me to my neighborhood but wanted to avoid driving into the narrow alleys. So I still had 30 minutes of walking ahead of me 😬. The price was cheap. I paid the equivalent of €2.40 for the 45-minute ride.

After a longer break, I went out again. I still needed replacement burners for my e-cigarette and found a dealer in my neighborhood through Google. When I arrived there, there was an empty shop, but with a sign and a phone number. I was about to call when a gentleman came around the corner and asked if I wanted to see him. Yes, of course I did 🤗. He had to give up the shop because the sale of e-cigarettes and accessories was banned, and now he was selling (illegally) out of the trunk of his car.

He was able to satisfy me, I felt like someone who had just bought 1 kg of a certain white powder 😂.

Then I walked back to my hotel along the promenade, of course not without eating something first.