We had money to burn and a couple of hours to kill in Istanbul.  But being a Sunday, Istanbul’s famed shopping market, The Grand Bazaar, was closed.

Still, there were plenty of other shops lining the streets to choose from. Mainly aimed at the tourists, they were crammed full of belly dancer costumes, pashminas, trinkets, postcards, fridge magnets and coffee cups depicting the Blue Mosque.  And, of course, intermixed with all this were dozens of variations of the nazar boncuau amulet (blue eye) designed to protect the owner from the evil eye.

But after a while, all the shops started to look the same. 

Except this one…

This one made us laugh.

And after that, it didn’t take too much effort by the shopkeeper to get us to open up the purses and buy a pashmina or two.

Related posts:

1. Staring at the Evil Eye in Istanbul
2. Shopping while cheap, Part Three
3. Shopping while cheap, Part Two
4. Shopping while cheap: inexpensive travel souvenirs, Part One

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