Turkey trip continued

So, we last left off with Sunday night.  Here are 3 of my friends who posted different events & perspectives from the fun day we had on Monday...more friends arrive, more surprises, and a party! How much better can it get?

Monday before the E's arrive - Jess @ Raising Rays

Monday being surprised - K @ Willing to risk. Ready to go.

Monday night = PARTY TIME! - T @ Harvesting Tulips

TUESDAY

Tuesday was probably one of my favorite days of the trip...you guessed it, we went shopping! Not just ordinary shopping, we ventured to a whole other continent (from Asia to Europe) and headed to the Grand Bazaar! It did not disappoint! Hopefully the pictures will give you an idea of how Grand it truly is!

 On our way to catch the mini bus to then catch the ferry.

On the ferry! One of my favorite parts of getting places. Such a nice breeze up on the top and a great view! Sweet time just sitting out there chatting with my friends, like it was just a normal day! Loved every minute with these girls!

Before we headed in to the Bazaar, we decided to eat lunch so that we could last longer shopping.  This was my first meal to actually eat what I thought of as a Turkish dish...I know, pretty sad. A few of us shared an appetizer that was basically rolled up friend cheese.  And then 2 dishes, chicken kabob & beef doner.

 

 

I should be honest here and say that the first 5 minutes in the Bazaar overwhelmed me!  The shop owners constantly hound you! You can't look at one thing without them wanting you to buy it.  Either I got used to it, or it seemed to die down, cuz after about 30 mins I hit my stride and we all started making purchases!

Most of the shop owners spoke decent English.  It was so crazy to me, when they realized that T & K spoke the language they would often give them a better price! Blew my mind!  We did pretty well bargaining with them though.  A few really liked speaking English to us and tried to keep us talking.  Here are some fun pics of shopping and a few of the friends we made along the way.

 We LOVED and all ended up purchasing one of these Turkish lamps!

 All 5 of us bargaining with the scarf guy! It took some great haggling skills from LA, but in the end we got a great price!

 He was thrilled with all the money he made off of us!

 Fun purchasing musical instruments.

T was such a trouper being 8 months pregnant! She lasted a few hours through shopping and then went to find a place to rest outside.  I'm not sure, but I think we ended up shopping for about 4 hours in the Bazaar.  We all felt great about our purchases and were ready to leave mid afternoon.

On our way back to the L's apartment we found a guy selling fresh squeezed orange juice.  This was one of the things I had been told to have while in Turkey.  Let me tell you, it was so refreshing, especially after the long day of shopping we had had.

 When we got back from shopping, the guys went & played basketball, which I'm not sure how Brent had any energy left as he had joined us at the Bazaar.  When they were done, the guys took the E kids back to the other apartment so that we could have a girls night! To be honest, we didn't do anything super special, we just enjoyed hanging out, catching up, having girl time. We did order chocolate milk shakes from McDonald's and have them delivered on the back of a motorcycle...silly I know, but you can't do that in America! ha!

Stay tuned...posts from the rest of the week coming soon!