Sardines Anyone?

Every Monday is the Kemer Market.  It’s a fruit, vegetable, fish, spices, nuts and random things market held on the street where the grocery stores are located.  It’s a traveling market and is held at surrounding cities throughout the week, but Monday is Kemer day.  The first time I went I was expecting something like a few produce stands and a fish stand, but what I saw blew me away.  So this past Monday I forced Dad to join me and was armed with the camera.  This barely scratches the surface, but we had to actually shop and walk back to the boat before it got dark which is happening here at around 4:45pm every day thanks to the needless time change.

There are stands like this all around Turkey.  Oranges and pomegranates grow everywhere here so people invest in juicers and for 2 Turkish Lira you can buy a cup of freshly squeezed juice.  Dad can’t get enough of the pomegranate.

This is a wide view taken from one end of the market.  It just keeps going and going.

Sardine anyone?  There is 4 different fish vendors with everything from fresh salmon to plates like these chock full of sardines.  And they advertise the sardines… not something I can see myself getting into.

Pumpkin carving?  The pumpkins here are HUGE.  The vendor opens up different sizes and kinds and the person buying them can pick and choose what they want.  I like this photo because it shows some local flavor too.

I fell in love with this man while we were there.  We bought our potatoes and onions from him just because of how he looked.  He didn’t speak a lick of English, but was able to help us out and gave me a wonderful toothless grin when we were done.

Spices and beans.  There were a couple of vendors like these selling all sorts of spices, beans, rice, and pastas. 

Along with the spice vendors were the nuts.  We got bags of the best filberts and almonds I may have ever had. 

Freshest honey around.  In the mountains are bee farms and the honey around here is super fresh and used for pretty much every dessert you can imagine.  If it can be drizzled on a pastry, it is.

Ah the freshness!  This is where everyone buys produces for the entire week.  Men and women walking around with carts like these ladies have full to the brim with every fruit and vegetable you can imagine and some we never have.

This photo just makes me smile.

Fruits and vegetables as far as the eye can see.  It creates such a visually pleasing experience and the smells wafting through the air make a truly sensory experience.

This was taken at the grocery store when we were buying meat to eat with our vegetables.  It made me laugh out loud.  You can buy Yellow Tail in 7-11 at home for I think around $7.  You can see here it’s 50.99TL.  That’s crazy!  Alcohol here is pretty expensive.  Oh well.