Thursday is market day in Kalkan. As those who have followed our previous trips know, we are big fans of the local street
markets. These have been the way of life on this side of the pond forever. Merchants come into a town, usually once a week,
set up in a parking lot or along the streets and sell their wares. Particularly in the smaller outlying towns, the weekly
market was where the locals did their shopping in the days before ready transportation, supermarkets and shopping centers.Some of the markets in France and Italy can be specialized -- mostly clothing or household items or food -- but the majority seem to offer a bit of everything. Today was our first experience with a Turkish market and we had no idea what to expect ... other than an experience.
Although they call it market day, the event itself is called a bazaar. Go figure. In Kalkan it was an easy walk from our apartment, so after a late breakfast/early lunch, we waded into the crowd to see what it was all about. The bazaar was set along one of the residential streets in town, so was very long and narrow. Like the crowds at Ephesus, this funneled all the traffic down a central passageway. That was good for the merchants but made it a bit like fighting your way down the aisles of a trade show.
Fortunately, the entire area was covered with huge white tarps, protecting everyone from the direct sun and providing a tent-like feel to it. The Kalkan market had LOTS of clothing, jewelry, leather goods, shoes, bootleg CDs and typical tourist treasures. A side section (normally a parking lot) held household goods, produce and food trucks with meats and cheeses. Most of the "designer" labels in the bazaar are fakes, of course but the quality can be comparable to the originals as many of the legitimate products come out of Turkish factories to begin with.
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