Serene Sunday-Spice Market

During our time in Istanbul we went to the Grand Bazaar, which is basically a tourist trap.  People go there to experience Istanbul, and all you see is cheap trinkets, everyone there is catering to tourists.  So later that day we went to the Spice Market in Istanbul, which caters to actual Turkish citizens.

There are still a lot of trinkets and nick-knacks, but also local business men.

My favorite part was seeing all the spices piled up, with their very vivid colors.

And the Turkish delight was marvelous, I got some in vacuum sealed boxes that would clear customs, but I loved the texture of the the powered sugar in this above shot.

All of my friends know that I hate sticky things, and so when I first saw these honey combs, I cringed.  Then I took a deep breathe and took advantage of these huge packages of honey.  :  )  I am so glad I did

I love to take pictures of people when I am on my vacations, sometimes I will be walking along and just see the perfect picture.  I love this woman looking into the stalls.

I didn't get a Turkish flag while I was there, but I loved seeing the vivid red of the flag everywhere we went. I also couldn't let a stellar mullet pass by. hahahah.

Men and women would stand outside all of the local mosques and take donations, and they would also sell or loan people shawls to cover up if a person was not properly dressed.  I did not enter this mosque, but I did have to get a shawl on one particular day when my shoulders were not properly covered.  I was very thankful that they were there, because I would not want to offend anyone in their place of worship.

This happens to be one of my favorite pictures from the trip, other than the previous picture.  I love the silhouette, and I love the ethereal quality of the picture.  The only way this would have been better would have been if some of the crows had been flying in the background.  The coloring is a bit off, but that was because I forgot to change my white balance setting after I left the spice market and this picture came out BLUE, hahahah.  I did this twice on the trip and have left my white balance on auto ever since.

I had trouble going to Turkey, I have always been a history buff so I had quite a huge problem with the governments stand on the Armenian genocide, but I truly loved my time in Turkey and would definitely go back in a second.  I know that my photography has improved in the three years since I was there, and by the time I get back there I am sure I will be able to capture the sights much better.

Love Always,

Meg