I had a mostly relaxing day today…late breakfast, then about 45 minutes to an hour in the gym, a walk to a grocery store (just to check it out), a Physio appointment for stretching (no injuries thank goodness), then a massage and some laundry…and trying to figure out how to help Fran Chandler with a Sun Express flight (I do not recommend booking on them if it can be avoided).
After the gym, Jenny Klitch and I walked to the Bim grocery store about 1/2 hour from our rooms (it took about half that time to walk to the end of the Ali Bey tennis courts!
The intended destination was a Bim supermarket which seemed similar to an Aldi in the USA…mostly food but also some household goods and shoes. In fact, when I researched it: “In Turkish, BIM most commonly refers to BÄ°H (BirleÅŸik Ä°ndirim Marketleri), a massive, very popular chain of discount grocery stores in Turkey—similar to Aldi or Lidl.” The prices were certainly low…I bought some pretzels (spicy which are very good and sesame which I haven’t tried), some corn and cheese snacks which turned out to be similar to Cheetos but not as flavorful…or orange and some chickpea snacks (chickpeas are widely grown in Turkey). The price for the four items was less than $4.  There were lots of nuts (everything except pistachios), all pretty cheap, some pistachio creme for under $4, bread was 20 lira for a good sized loaf, or 40 cents, ice cream was $2, little pizza breads were 80 cents etc. We also walked by a small outdoor market with the biggest cabbage I’d ever seen. See below…those are normal sized persimmons. A reminder…the lira is about 50 to a dollar.
As usual outside the USA the eggs were not refrigerated. And were about $2 for a dozen and a half.
We walked past greenhouses full of green tomatoes, and on the way back saw a Turkish “jack” which was a curb, to repair a flat tire.
When we returned, we got lunch, and at 3pm I had a massage, after a 2pm visit to the Physio for stretching.
After the massage, I tried to help Fran Chandler with her flight to Tennessee via FRA and IAD, on Sun Express and United…the Sun Express version was vexing…they had already cancelled Fran’s flight when she tried to check in and the new one was double the old one..but she at least has a Sun Express booking code and seats on the United flights.
Tomorrow it’s back to work on the tennis court, never a bad idea!