Several hours later, he had shown me just about all of the 1,500 carpets which were crammed into every nook and cranny of his compact shop. Where his English failed, his old uncle who had been educated in America filled in the gaps. The Sirino glu family have been making carpets for 70 years, and they export to several exclusive shops in America and also to a shop in Bahrain. Ekmen showed me a carpet which was a portrait of the Qatari sheikh who had commissioned it. In another shop, the owner Saban Turqut told me why Hereke carpets are not so easy to find in Dubai.
Turkish hospitality demands the offering of coffee or tea as part of the carpet-buying ritual.
The people are genuinely friendly and eager to find out all about you and in turn answer your questions. Or maybe they just want you to buy their carpets. Either way I can think of worse ways to spend an hour or two than relaxing and watching carpet after beautiful carpet laid out in front of you. South of the Grand Bazaar in Kumkapi, an area near the waterfront, many seafood restaurants surround the main square. As you enjoy your meal a band plays Anatolian folk music, and locals will often get up and dance.