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 | |  |  | Rumeli Hisari: Saturday is market day in Rumeli Hisar Ustu! | Tip Rating:   |  |  | |  |
Duatepe Park is the last stop on the Rumeli Hisar Ustu bus route, and boasts stunning views over the Bosphorus and the 2nd Europe-Asia bridge. However, stunning views can be had in many places in Istanbul, so it is not really worth making a special trip out here...unless you do so on a Saturday. Saturday is market day in Rumeli Hisar Ustu, the area I used to live in. A steep cobbled street running from the park down to the castle below is transformed into a lively sprawl of fruit and vegetable stalls. Old women stop to gossip, blocking the street with their shopping trolleys overflowing with aubergines, apricots and mounds of fresh sheep's cheese. Students from nearby Bogazici university stock up on olives, tomatoes and vine leaves, while tea boys weave in and out of shoppers carrying trays of steaming glasses of tea for the traders. Every so often, a loudspeaker announces the deals of the day; a kilo of cherries for 2YTL, a box of multicoloured easter chicks looking for a new home, a watermelon man trying to shift the last of his melons before nightfall. Tourists never come here, and why would they? A local market for local people, one of hundreds in Istanbul...except that this one can be incorporated into a pleasant day trip, starting with the views from the park, then once you're done haggling over peaches in the pazar, keep going downhill, past a few Ottoman mansions and sleeping dogs, until you reach the back of Rumeli Hisar, the Fortress of Europe. Either navigate your way through the village on the left, or cut through the cemetery on the right...either way you'll soon reach the seafront, where you can enter the castle, eat in one of the fish restaurants and walk off your meal along the promenade towards upmarket Bebek and Arnavutkoy. Frequent buses head to Rumeli Hisar Ustu from Taksim square, and buses running along the coast road will take you back to Taksim or Eminonu. The market starts early morning, and begins to pack up shortly before sunset. Leave a Comment
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