Alaçatı: Lunch and a Stroll

Leaving Arkas Art, we headed to the Alaçatı Pazarı [Market Place] for a stroll.

This open-air market place is billed by some as the “Society Bazaar.” You need something? You will more than likely find it here … from fresh produce and freshly canned goods to dried foodstuff; to clothing for one and al; to sunglasses and costume jewelry; to cologne and perfumes; to kitchen utensils and knick-knacks; and more. Brand names … knock-offs. Anything and everything you can think of is sold by the vendors. If one of them doesn’t have what you’re looking for, another one surely will.

(I took just one photo of the pazar area today. If interested, you can see the photos I took on a previous visit at the following link. Though that trip was 14+ years ago, not much has changed … just grown in leaps and bounds — https://2totravel.blogspot.com/2010/04/from-paz….)

As it was getting on towards 2:00p, the first order of business was to sate our growling tummies. We found one of the casual eateries in the pazar and ordered ourselves some gözleme and tea. What is gözleme? I suppose you could describe it as a savory Turkish turnover, usually made with thin, unleavened dough. You can order it with a variety of fillings … from cheese, to potatoes, to spinach, to meat … or a combo of any of these ingredients. The beverage of choice when having gözleme is usually Turkish tea or ayran (made with watered down yogurt).

We made sure not to fill up too much as our next stop was for dessert at the historic İmren Tatlıcısı [Sweets Shop], which has been serving goodies to locals and visitors alike since 1941. Yummy, yummy … especially the profiteroles, but the ice cream was pretty tasty, too.

Next up was a slow stroll through the streets of Alaçatı … a bit of sightseeing and exercise to walk off some of the calories. And then back through the pazar to return to the car for the drive back home.

We were all pleasantly tired by this time, but our day was not quite yet over.Read more