We’ve spent altogether too much time looking at carpets on this trip. Well, you can’t come to Turkey and not go looking for a Turkish carpet, can you?
It seems as if every third shop in this city is a carpet shop. Many, if not most, employ people to stand in the street and lure tourists inside. Those who resist, due to lack of interest or time, are assured that it will only take a few minutes to view just a couple of pieces. Hours later, the same tourists will frequently emerge cross-eyed and dazed, their wallets considerably lighter than on the way in.
They’re not all sharks, of course. There are reputable shops, too, but it can be very hard to tell the honest dealers from the wide boys. They often give conflicting, but convincing information, so it can be hard to know who’s telling the truth or even whether anyone is.
New carpets are presented as old; old carpets are presented as even older. Poor quality is presented as high quality. Afghan and Chinese carpets are presented as Turkish. Chemical dyes are presented as natural. Mass production is presented as unique. And you’ll get many different stories regarding the legality of exporting a national treasure, which is what a carpet that is more than a hundred years old is deemed to be.
We, too, must navigate this minefield, and have therefore spent, as I noted above, far too much time in the company of a motley collection of spivs and wheeler-dealers.
Somewhere amongst them, we managed to find people we felt we could trust and today finally committed GBH of our credit card to splurge on two lovely Turkish carpets.
Rather than return with them in the empty suitcase we brought along for this express purpose, we’ve opted to have the shop send them to us via courier. My initial fears about inevitable import duties were allayed by a convincing explanation of how the shop first minimises their potential and then arranges for any charges imposed to be incurred by the sender rather than the recipient. Of course, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating, and we hope to know by the end of the week whether the dealer’s story holds water.
Tomorrow is our last day in Istanbul. I’m itching to see more of the country, but that will have to wait for a second trip. And considering that Turkey borders Bulgaria to the north-west, Greece to the west, Georgia to the north-east, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran to the east, and Iraq and Syria to the south-east — all of which we’ve never visited — the desire to keep on travelling is strong.
So much world, so little time.