Istanbul, Part One

I arrived in Istanbul late Friday night and met up with my best friend, Emily, at the hostel. The hostel picked me up from the hotel and I got a fast view of the beautiful city at night. We drove by the sea coast, weaving in and out of traffic, and raced around the Blue Mosque, lit up at night. It was absolutely beautiful. During my stay I have used that word too much, I fear. My host mom sent me off with a bottle of housewine, so we drank that and ate some Ukrainian chocolate to celebrate our first evening in Istanbul and seeing each other after a year.
The next morning we woke up and ate breakfast at the hostel. Black and green olives, bread with jam or honey, goat and cow cheeses, hard boiled eggs, cucumbers, tomatoes, coffee and tea. It was a great start to what would be a long walking day. Because we are girls, we headed to the Grand Bazaar first thing and we were in for a big adventure. The Bazaar is HUGE, I would say it is as big as two city blocks, if not more. There, you can buy anything from rugs, traditional dress, shoes, jewelry, paintings, hookahs, tea...
Immediately entering the bazaar we are attacked by venders yelling at us to come look at their shop. They are saying funny phrases to lure us in, such as "it is my turn now," "are you sisters? we're brothers and single," "did you drop something?" "do you want to buy something you don't need," and the list goes on. The venders can speak several languages and Emily was enjoying the men speaking Spanish to me, thinking I was Spanish. Silly men. Whenever necessary, I would break out my Romanian in order to avoid them.
The venders at the Bazaar are very friendly, but also very pushy. They make a living on selling things, want to make you happy, and want you to walk away with something of theirs and less money in their pocket. They constantly offer you tea and to step into their store so they can show you something. You quickly learn to be blunt, say no, and walk away if you are not interested in something. If the price isn't right, offer your own, and if they aren't down, walk away and they will more than likely head to your offer. I left a lot of money behind in Istanbul.