Street Shopping

It always amazes me the sort of things you can buy on the street in this country. A (perhaps not so) short list of what I’ve seen people selling this weekend in Istanbul: electric keyboard, binoculars, cell phone charger, nuts, scarves, bookmarks, pins, shawls, cold water (thank god! It’s getting hot!), watches, children’s pajamas, shirts, fish sandwiches, prayer beads, socks, electronic toy robot, duckling (alive!), perfume, sunglasses, books, balloons, evil eye bracelets, purses, muscles (cooked), gum, tissues, tea, street food (that could be a whole separate list – perhaps some other time), shoes, toys, headbands, cell phone sim cards, lottery tickets, flowers, underwear, pens, alarm clocks, lighters, jewelry, wallets, skirts,…I could keep going but this gives you a good idea of the variety of objects that are available. With street vendors like these why do you need a shopping center? The only trick is finding a vendor that is actually selling what you are looking for (or else you can just discover you actually do need that pair of rainbow striped kneed high socks – OK so it’s not so good for impulse shoppers). It definitely makes walking down the street a lot more interesting.