LongLegs

It used to be going to these countries would mean you could find items that here in the U.S. would cost considerably more or could not be found at all.

The boundaries are gone and yet, there must be something that makes you glad you bought what you did when you did.

I hear the olives in Turkey are worthy of bringing back... but hey, what if they break open... yuck. And you gotta be careful about customs, no?

Short of bringing home something tacky, what would you recommend and where to shop and what to pay. I am heading to the Greek Islands, Athens, Istanbul.

Cha, cha, cha.

Seamus

In Istanbul go to the Spice Market. Look for saffron that is displayed in bulk, not prepackaged. (The prepackaged stuff has a couple strands dyed to look good displayed on the outside but inside it is inferior saffron.) Probably the best and cheapest saffron I have ever had. I bought it from a merchant stall at the opposite end of the front row from the Turkish Delight candy stall. They put it in little glass jars with screw lids and it traveled fine. Wish I had bought more!

brotherleelove2004

Go to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul and look for bargains in old jewelry. Start by offering half of what the asking price is and work up from there. I've found some amazing old silver, coral and turquoise necklaces there. One cost me about USD $35 and a jeweler appraised it at $850 when I returned to the States. The bargaining process is a lot of fun!

LongLegs

This is exactly what I was looking for.... KEEP it going! Funny, when I was in Morocco I bought all this Saffron and brought it back. BUT, I didn't open it until a month later. (Please turn your head if you get grossed out). When I opened it was being consumed by worms and bugs. Needless to say, it was NOT a spice that was nice.
LL

traveller69

I bought Olive oil soaps home from Greece. You can get them very nicely packaged as single bars or two or three in a pack. They come in different scents and everyone loved them. They were very reasonably priced and easy to pack. Regarding olives. I broght some olives back as well from Greece. They were packaged in a foil pack so no worry about glass breaking etc.

worldinabag

Hi

I bought saffron in Turkey and on my return I declared it and it was promptly confiscated by Australian customs. So beware! Alabaster items seem plentiful in Turkey. I picked up a beautiful alabaster vase for a gift and it only cost me AUD$5. The Greeks make lovely jewellery. I picked up a unique silver men's ring in Athens for AUD$60. A handpainted plate depicting a Greek mythological scene was the same price in the Plaka. It really depends on what you're after.

stanbr

If you get to Naxos you will find Kitron. It is a liqueur unique to the island. We always bring two bottles home with us. A glass of Kitron on a cold winters day brings back memories of sun and sea in Naxos.

Continuing on my booze theme we purchased small bottles of Ouzo at every town we stopped in. There are many local ouzos produced and the difference is amazing. You could also find Brettos distillery in the Plaka in Athens. They make it right there.

I second the comment on the jewelry. We have found beautiful old silver pieces for very good prices. I understand this jewelry is procured during the winter when the shopkeepers travel into the mountains on mainland Greece and buy old jewelry from estate auctions.
We also purchased a new gold bracelet ( a copy of a 16th century Venetian era bracelet) and a copy of a byzantine ring ( the shopkeeper showed us a picture of the ring right out of a museum book) The ring was 18K gold. Both pieces were appraised at considerably more than we paid when we got home.
The ring was purchased at a shop called Byzantine in the Plaka.

nona1

again olive oil soap from greece. also large natural sponges are much cheaper than i see in the uk, and everywhere on the islands.

brotherleelove2004

Just like the pistachios sold in such abundance on Santorini and other islands, the sponges sold in tourist shops most likely come from other countries. Sponge diving in Greece is dying out. The sponge habitats have been overharvested and the last group of sponge divers, on the island of Kalymnos, are beginning to look elsewhere for their livelihood.

brotherleelove2004

http://www.pbs.org/odyssey/odyssey/2...ranscript.html

HappyTrvlr

In Greece, olive oil soap and lavendar soap, Honey,capers and our favorite:Cretan olive oil.

Luisah

<<Go to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul and look for bargains in old jewelry.>>

How do you know that it's genuine silver? Is there a particular vendor or did you just shop among many?

Thanks

brotherleelove2004

How does anyone know? Experience. I spent a couple of days exploring most of the Grand Bazaar before purchasing anything, so I could see if there were any duplicates being sold in other shops. For me it was no problem.

tcreath

I purchased olive oil soaps in Turkey as well (Sirince) and they made nice gifts. We also brought back a couple of boxes of good Turkish Delight...not the stuff sold in the tourist trinket shops but from actual Turkish Delight shops. So good! I think our favorite purchase was a couple of silk and embroidered throw pillow cases. They are gorgeous and I was able to bargain to get a decent price at a small shop in the Spice Market. He had hundreds of styles to choose from, and it was fun picking out a couple. I haven't yet seen anything quite like them in the US.

Tracy

retiredinflorida

I found the souveniers in Greece ranged from bad to worse. I did buy some olive oil soap, for someone who has dry skin, she didn't care for the soap. Some souveniers were hideous. If you'd like to bring back a bottle of liquor, Ouzo is cheap, but try it first, not everybody likes it. I did buy Greece Delight (Lokum), baklava and honey cake all of which were made locally, however, none were good. Gold and silver jewelery is easily available, I didn't check prices, but some of the designs (Greek Key) were nice. Some of my travel companion bought jewelery and many complained that the items were very poor quality, one person showed me a pendent which bought for her daughter it was as thin as tin foil. If you plan on buying jewelery take your time and check which shops have better quality items.

Turkey has a good selection of handicrafts, rugs, wooden items, copper items, textiles, etc. all easily available in the Grand Bazaar. The spice market is worth visiting for spices, seasoning mixes, Turkish delight, etc. If you want Turkish delight, buy the good stuff not the cheap pre packaged product that you get at the souvenier stores.

LongLegs

Wow, the best of the Mediterranean has shrunk into olive oil soaps, fake jewelry and cheap booze... or as it seems.

Whatever happened to those amazing artifacts that could only be found in such-a-place... Oh yeah, that was 30 years ago. Well, I'm still hoping that are some secrets yet to be told on this Forum. A treasured hideaway, an amazing little store filled with handmade zilch or kazorch... or gumbaza.

No matter, much appreciate your thoughts and ideas... LL

mes2525

This is hard for me to respond to without jumping down people's throats but I've been to Greece 5 times with my 6th trip to Rhodes, Corfu and Athens in October and I have absolutely no trouble in finding beautiful things to buy in Greece.

I only wished I could buy a fur length coat from my favorite leather/fur shop in Rodos. From jewelry, ceramics, leather jacket, furs to all kinds of food and natural beauty products there is an excellent range. Since I spend at least two weeks on my trips, I have plenty of time to look around and I usually have the recommendations of friends and guidebooks to direct my search.

One rule of thumb is not to look at the outside display. The jewelry stores often have the tawdry display outside and the really nice, more expensive pieces inside (The same goes for Mexico, for example). I have beautiful pieces from Greece, but I do research. Real Silver has a stamp on it 925, I think, and some shops will have a sign so stating. Also gold is stamped as well, as it is in the States.

I know what shops have excellent work. Look at Athens Style, a book published several years ago for hints as to shops in Athens to visit. Some of them are out of my price range, but others are affordable and the Greece is known for its gold work for about 4,000 years. Check out the LLounis Museum new the Acropolis and there stores for the mega expensive piece.

The quality of the work is excellent. I don't know where you bought the jewelry but I have beautiful pieces that have been the envy of the clerks at the Metropolitan Museum. Many of the reproductions at the Met are made in Greece or Turkey for $$$$.

As far as food goes, if you live in NYC, there is very little reason to bring back olive oils, honey, spoon sweets, and the like because we have access to Astoria and the wonderful Titan and Mediterranean Food shops among many Greek food emporiums. If you live outside, it may be worth your while to go to a good Greek food speciality shop or a local grocery store and stock up.

I buy all my olive oil soap, shampoo, etc. at Mediterranean or Titan Foods in Astoria, but the same are available in Athens. Korres, the very famous cosmetic maker has a store in Athens that I would like to visit, although there is NY branch now. The Mastic shops have great shampoos are great, but there is one in NYC, so I wouldn't bring that back.

The Benaki and National Archaological Musuems have exellent reproductions in their stores. While not cheap, they are of high quality and workmanship. The Centre for Hellenic Tradition in the Plaka has a good range of Greek crafts that are affordable. There is also an excellent brass store in the Plaka that is easy to spot because of all the beautiful trays, coffee accessories, etc. I bought several pieces there at the request of friends.

I have a Master's from Art School, I know the excellent from the indifferent & tawdry and you can find plenty of the excellent but its not dirt cheap, especially since the Greece went over to the Euro in 2001.

Sorry to offend anyone, but I think people who can't find good workmanship in Greece either don't know what they are looking at, or, they don't want to spend the money.

HappyTrvlr

I also found high quality ceramics, nothing tawdry at all.

otherchelebi

Dear LongLegs, check the web sites of two important jewellery designers in Istanbul : Urart and Arkaik. Both make use of ancient Anatolian designs, from the Urartu and Hittite civilizations. They are not cheap but they are special.

there is a second hand silver shop not too far from the Bazaar, which has a good collection of rather recent pieces at very very reasonable prices, but also comes up with tsarist Russian and early twentieth and 19th century European or Otoman (usually from Izmir, made by the Greek craftsmen) pieces and sometimes sets (mostly incomplete). Maybe you can find it.

i have no arts education but have a wife and two daughters.

otherchelebi

Here's some more information that i usually do not divulge. i will not make it obvious, but not too cryptic either. Some of the fun of traveling is the time and effort you spend on research and discovery:

-Pasabahce for special edition numbered glass art objects (biggest store is in Adres Istanbul)
- The Turkish Government Mint has a shop for commemorative silver and gold coins and objects made with these coins.
- Bebek Badem Ezmesi has the best pistachio and almond mash sweets.
- The wooden spoons and ladles or spatulas which look as if they have been varnished (very smooth and yellowish) are terrific. Inexpensive and very good with non-stick finish pots.
- You can have well known Christoffle or other design silver cuttlery sets made for a fraction of the price of the original.
- Interesting Turkish musical instruments, like 'saz', 'kemence', 'darbuka', 'tef' 'ud' (you may even get someone to give you some guidelines on how to play them)
- 'Rebul' lavender eau de cologne splash.
- Major Turkish football team jerseys, scarfs, caps, towels
- Books on turkey, Istanbul, politics, archeology, etc. (also those by John Freely) (even my book) at Homer bookstore and the archeology bookstore next to it at Galatasaray (street next to the lycee, just off Istiklal)

Hope you enjoy contributing to the turkish economy.