Pazar Day

Yesterday was Pazar day.  You might more familiar with the word "Bazaar" which is like a local market.  They have pazars that sell mostly produce and others like the "Grand Pazar" that sell everything, mostly household goods and textiles, etc.  Tuesday is our closest pazar. Every week I go there to get all of our produce.  It is the freshest and the cheapest and I also just love the atmosphere. So, Sonora and I headed out.  We walk about 10 minutes to get there and it was fun to run into many of our neighbors on their way or way back.  I'm getting used to the lay out of this pazar.  It's basically like a farmer's market with certain streets closed off and tarps strung out overhead and tables full of vegetables and fruit and some household goods set up on both sides of the street.  It can get pretty crowded in the evening and so you are brushing shoulders with people as you walk through and sometimes have to push yourself up to a stand if there is a crowd.  Sonora did a great job holding my hand and sticking close by when I was picking through veggies, and with that job she was even quite helpful.  The sweetest thing was hearing her faint little voice amidst the crowd singing--just sauntering, following her mommy and singing to herself.

Some of the produce that everyone has on hand that Americans might not is:  lemons and parsley and of course tomatoes and cukes for breakfast.  I'll list what I got and some of the prices.  The exchange is 1.5 lira to the dollar.  I'll let you do the math is you are really curious about the exact prices.  Everything is sold by the kilo, which is 2.2 lbs. 

potatoes:  1 TL (turkish lira) for 2.2 lbs. (1 kilo)
tomatoes:  same price (these were the cheap price so I really had to carefully pick through these, we'll see if it is worth it)
green grapes:  2 TL for 2.2 lbs.
carrots:  1 TL for 2.2 lbs.
cucumbers:  1.50 TL for 2.2 lbs.
bananas:  2 TL for 2.2 lbs. (Exported bananas like the ones you get in America are more like 3.5 TL, the ones I got were the little native bananas)
peaches:  2 TL for 2.2 lbs. (they ended up being bad--I think the season for this fruit is over!)
parsley: 1 TL a bunch
eggplant:  2 TL for 2.2 lbs.
green beans:  3.5 TL for 2.2 lbs.

I think that is most of what I got.  We love the fresh produce here.  I can't tell you how great the quality is!!