the song of vendors and crowds

Close your eyes and imagine you are being carried away in the crowd's current, the scent of herbs and onions in the air...

a feast for the senses

to the market

Oh how I love the market!

...and a little bit of charcoal

going to the market

today's portraits

the levent market

It was another cold and muddy market day in Levent. I drew this while sitting at an impromptu "café"— plastic stools and folding table under a tarp with tea from a large thermos. The Istanbul markets are wonderful places— mountains of the most beautiful produce you've ever seen or smelled, piles of clothing and frilly panties, basins of olives and tubs of cheese.

Please click on the image to see it larger.

Market Day

It was a cold, damp market day in Levent, a district of Istanbul. I love the markets for their liveliness, and for all the goodies you can find. Just about anything is available, from gorgeous produce to leather bags to frilly panties. The air is perfumed with all sorts of wonderful smells— onions, fresh cheese, pomegranates, olives, roasting chestnuts. The vendors often have great senses of humour and powerful sets of lungs— singing and shouting out prices and offers. I've been looking forward to this all week since just about all my socks have mysteriously formed holes in them, and this is the best place to find fun and inexpensive clothing.

The temperature has dropped considerably— we're expecting snow tomorrow, so to warm my hands (and fill my stomach) I picked up a gözleme. Gözleme is one of my favourite Turkish street foods, it's a hand rolled pastry sealed with your choice of filling and cooked on a convex griddle. Today it was spinach and beyaz peynir, literally 'white cheese', a sort of feta. You can also get your gözleme filled with potatoes, eggs, meat, mushrooms or a combination of these ingredients.

In addition to a few pairs of colourful socks (I never wear white or plain socks), I found a black jersey shirtdress, a long white button-down shirt, some lovely canary yellow yarn, and I couldn't resist some pomegranates, mandarins and oranges. Since I can only knit rectangles, I'll be making myself a scarf in the next few weeks.