It is election time in Istanbul, instead of campaign signs they hang banners across the streets everywhere and drive around the streets with vans with loudspeakers on top blaring music and campaign speeches. (and we think campaign commercials are annoying) These flags are in front of a statue of Ataturk, The founder of the Turkish Repulic.
Cured meat hang in a small shop in an the Besiktas neighborhood. Besiktas is a fairly trendy, nice waterfront community along the Bosphorus with many shops and restaurants. Nazan grew up and went to school in Besiktas and her parents still live here.
The Egyptian Bazaar or "spice bazaar" has been a market since the 1600's in old Istanbul.
A street salesman sells turkish flags outside the spice bazaar.
The Spice Bazaar, just like the nearby Grand Bazaar, is essentially a shopping mall with corridors lined with small shops.
A common item in the Spice Bazaar is turkish delight, a very sweet candy made with honey or sugar that usually has some kind of nuts in it.
Most every time you go into a shop in the spice bazaar or most any other store in Istanbul, you are offered tea (so they can keep you a while to put on the hard sell)
A tourist takes some photos in the Blue Mosque, a historic mosque built between 1609 and 1616 in the heart of Istanbul.
these are fantastic! thanks so much for posting them...
Posted by: lori compas | March 23, 2009 at 06:57 AM
Whew, these are some sweet pictures. It's as though you're a professional or something. Really beautiful, Cameron, all of them.
Posted by: Jeremy Cox | March 30, 2009 at 10:39 AM