Discovering the Blue Mosque and Mehmet's Rug Shop.
We had breakfast at the hotel and took a walk in the section behind us...which is called the Historical Peninsula. We wandered towards the Blue Mosque and immediately we were met by another friendly local who escorted us through the Mosque and shared some of his knowledge about the history...and pointed out all the stuff that the Sultan's wife had the Sultan do. We agreed that the Sultan's wife was a very high-maintenance girl. At the end of the tour we walked over to his rug shop. There are hundreds of rugs shops in this section of town....and each of them has people walking the streets luring tourists and bringing them back to sip a cup of tea...and (hopefully) buy a rug.
At the rug shop he left us with his cousin...Mehmet who offered us tea, told us about rugs and showed us a few very nice rugs. I told him that we didn't really need a rug, to which he replied "no one NEEDS a rug. However no one leaves Turkey without one". Perhaps he's right...but we didn't purchase one....yet. After a little conversation, we finished our tea, said goodbye...and proceeded to explore other parts of Istanbul.
2 comments:
I am interested to see if you end up with a rug. It sounds like you have enough luggage as it is. Do you have to ship it back if you buy one? If you do buy one, it will probably be one of those mistakes tourists get lured into, like a Mickey Mouse wizard hat from Disneyland. It's something you would never buy if it were in the store down the street. Happy Shopping.
I will not buy a rug.
I will not buy a rug.
I will not buy a rug.
I just have to keep saying that to myself.
:)
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