So Bazaar

To pass some of the time on this week off before I go home, I went to the big, permanent bazaar/marketplace in the center of Izmir, a neighborhood called Konak. The bazaar itself has a name- Kameralti. I had been there with my roommates, but Tuesday was the first time there by myself. I only mention that because it’s very large, and extremely confusing to find your way around. I got lost and disoriented a number of times trying to find places and stores I had seen or had been to before. Walking through all these alleys and passing by so many storefronts, it can be difficult to navigate, especially when you can never see the horizon. I felt like I was trapped in a maze. I bought a few things to bring home for the family, and after a good half hour, I was able to locate the food area of the bazaar. They sell all kinds of fresh food, fish, fruits, and veggies, but I wanted to find this one particular pide shop. Pide is bread, spread out like pizza dough in a shape that most resembles a thin, stretched-out football. They cook it in the oven and put whatever you like on it- cheese, tomatoes, meat, egg, a number of vegetables. It actually tastes more like pizza than the pizza they make and sell here. It was one of the best things I’ve eaten here so far, and so fresh out of the oven it was almost illegal (uh, don’t ask me how).
But this Kemeralti Marketplace is really something to see and to behold. Describing it in words can’t do it full justice. You just have to walk through it and experience it for yourself. It puts any outdoor market or flea market I’ve ever seen to shame. This is the big one, but there are other smaller ones around the city in different neighborhoods on varying days. There’s little need to go to a regular supermarket with these bazaars here. Everything you need is somewhere in that bazaar, it’s just up to you to track it down and to find it. Without a GPS tracking map, good luck!