Travel Journal, Part IV

Today, I visited a bazaar in Ankarah. Unlike America, where shopping centers are generally arranged in either a straight line or a circular pattern, this was simply a series of almost labyrinthine side streets, with shops and streetside vendors plying all manner of wares.

The streets are oppressively small, and cramped with salesmen and shoppers. Our cab driver heroically ferried us as far into the bazar as this car would fit, and from there we hoofed it through the alleys. I have no idea how he planned to get the vehicle out of there, but I hope the tip we gave him makes up for the time he lost.

Showing uncharacteristic restraint, I refrained from spending a single coin (although I was quite tempted by a decorative three-barrelled flintlock pistol) until we reached our ultimate destination: the remnants of an old Turkish castle. On the stone path up to the ancient structure, a veritable army of elderly turkish women were aggressively selling handmade jewelry. Most of their jewelry was of reasonable quality, and cost less than one American dollar, so I couldn't resist buying a necklace for myself, a Nazar (a sort of good luck charm popular in Turkey and Greece), a painted wood jewelry case, and an necklace of purple stones, which will most likely end up in my mother's possession. All of these combined cost me five lira (1 lira = about 65 cents) so I think I did alright. Andrea bought a purse for 7 lira, and I still may return for that flintlock, but all in all we made it out of there without losing much cash.

Once we'd made it past the shopkeeps, we entered Ankara Castle. Very little was left of it, such that there really was no "inside" to the place. It consisted of a small circular dais with stairs leading to the ramparts, which I immediately decided I would climb with no regard for personal safety. What was left of the tower is the highest point in the city, and nearly the entirety of Ankarah is visible once you have completed your ascent. Rather than attempt to describe this view in words, I will let the pictures (which I swear are coming) tell most of the tale.

After climbing up and down and around the remnants of Ankarah Castle, we descended, walked about the bazaar for a bit longer, and then caught a cab to an Italian restaurant for lunch.

After lunch, we visited a mall. The interesting thing (to me, anyway) about the malls here is that they are arranged in a double ring pattern. The inside ring is almost exactly the same as your typical mall, with storefronts at the edges of the ring and escalators in the middle. The outside ring, obviously, is outside the inner ring. Most stores connected to the inner ring have a back exit leading to the outer ring, where a second series of storefronts is located. Side stairs are also available on this ring, as well as alleys leading back to the inner ring. There were three floors, and above that another three floors' worth of stores could be seen through windows, but were accessible only from the outside. Most of these seemed to be offices and the like, but I saw a tattoo parlor and a few other shops among them.

We took another walk through a shopping street, poking through the occasional side alley for more window shopping, but no other purchases were made.

Tomorrow, we get on a plane to Istanbul. It looks to be a very busy weekend, followed by a very busy week in Bodrum.