Bursa Bazaar

A couple weekends ago we had our first visitor, Cheryl Tollett Jacobs, or "my sister from another mother".  I have known her since she was 3 years old and I was her babysitter.and It was her family I was with in Australia when I met Geoff.  So our lives have been intertwined for many years.  She is now teaching English as a Second Language in Ismit, Turkey, north of here and had a few days off, so traveled here by bus.  We went to the Bursa Bazaar on Saturday, a first for us as well. Known as the Kapali Carsi,  or Covered Market, it is the centerpiece of a bazaar district connected by narrow streets.  Many of the shopping along the streets are covered for weather protection.  These narrow streets are  home to hans, old Ottoman workshop/warehouse complexes, arranged around a courtyard and sealed by large doors.

The day we were there it was extremely hot, so we really just got a small taste of what the whole bazaar experience could be.  We decided a much cooler day, some weeks from now, would be a better time to really explore.  So we mainly stayed in the main covered area, afraid to venture too far off it for fear of getting lost.

This map was hard to get without a glare, but it gives some idea of the size of the market area.  It is the labyrinth of streets and buildings that fill the lower area of the map.  The Center Market area is the long narrow "walkway" that fans out at the end.  All of the square areas are the courtyard areas, and each one pretty well has it's own specialty.  This one pales, apparently to the one in Istanbul which has over 4,000 shops.  I think one might need days to every see it all.

This was the main entrance to the  Kapali Carsi, with Cheryl and Geoff out front.

  

 Two different areas of the covered bazaar, before it got really busy and taking photos wasn't so easy.

The photo on the left is just off the main bazaar in the "han" that was full of material and sewing notions.  There are 3 levels to these areas.   The photo on the right was just a view of a shop with "fancy dress" wear and the brilliance of the gold in the jewelry window next door.   Gold jewelry is BIG here.  Some beautiful, some.....not

T






These formal outfits for little boys to young men are used for various special events from circumcisions to weddings, to religious ceremonies.  They are very regal looking.