Amasya Shopping

What to buy: If you are planning to carry back souvenirs from Amasya, marble apples from the orchards would be a perfect choice. Other gift items to be picked up can be handmade scarves, and home made kusburnu marmalade

While not as grand and as labyrithine as Istanbul's and definitely pint-sized when placed alongside Bursa's, Amasya's Kapali Carsi (covered market), does have a charm of its own, and offers several interesting finds.

I didn't spend much time going through the shops, but enjoyed chatting with the shopkeepers, stopping by at some shops to oblige invitations for cay. In the end, I ended up with was a kese, the coarse cloth mitten that hamam attendants use to remove dirt which you thought might not even existed. I didn't intend to use it, but as a souvenir to remind me of the hamam experience.

The market itself is interesting, having been built in 1483, and very much still in use today. At the time I was there, restoration works were ongoing, perhaps to make the market more in tune with Amasya's lovely surroundings, and of course to entice more tourists.

What to buy: Lots of things, from Chinese-made clothes and toys to Chinese-made plastics. Yes, China clearly has not spared Turkey! Thankfully, the kese I bought was made in Turkey, or at least that's what its tag said.