Our Istanbul Fruit Guy

As we walked uphill to our rental apartment on our first evening in Istanbul last May, the display at a tiny fruit store beckoned. We stopped and bought peaches, melons, cherries. The white-haired proprietor was so friendly, the fruit he chose for us so delicious, that we shopped nowhere else.

Last month we returned to Istanbul for two weeks, staying in the same area. "Merhaba!" our fruit guy -- as we called him --  cried, as if we were long-lost friends. We vigorously shook hands, chatting as much as my Turkish would allow.

We stopped in daily, whether we were short of fruit or not. We learned that our fruit guy has many children. That he opens unusally late in the day to catch the evening commuter foot traffic. That he cooks his own dinner on his desk, over a single burner. After tasting his rice soup -- wickedly spicy -- we knew that, like us, he loves chilies.

"If you were having a bad day, all you'd have to do is go to the fruit shop and you'd feel better. He's that kind of guy," mused Dave.

On our last evening in town we learned our fruit guy's name: Mehmet Ali. How ludicrous that we hadn't asked before. We told him ours, took his address, and promised to send a photo. He and Dave shook hands, and Mehment Ali kissed mine. He gifted us Izmir pears and Antalya oranges.

We said "Gorusuruz," (We'll meet again.), hoping that we will.

This post has been entered into the Grantourismo HomeAway Holiday-Rentals travel blogging competition.

 

 

Comments

[The Quest For Zest]

How cool! We had an experience similar to this with a convenience store owner as we left Venice. Very much a morning person, he had us behind his counter snapping photos and telling us how excited he was to be visiting Hollywood (and his son) later that year. By the time we left we didn't even need the O.J. we bought for a perk-up.

[lara dunston]

Hi Robyn

A quick note to thank you for this entry, which the judges absolutely loved, and to apologize for not saying so earlier, and to also let you know that you've won First Prize in the January HomeAway Holiday-Rentals Grantourismo Travel Blogging Competition! Congrats!

Full details below and I'll send a formal email a bit later today: http://grantourismotravels.com/2011/02/14/grantourismo-travel-blogging-competition-january-winners/

We'll be announcing details of our February HomeAway Holiday-Rentals Grantourismo Travel Blogging Competition a bit later today also - our final competition is a very easy one! Please spread the word.

best,
Lara

[Nuriche]

Thank you for sharing such a great and interesting blog entry. We need fruit everyday.

[delhi united]

We learned that our fruit guy has many children. That he opens unusally late in the day to catch the evening commuter foot traffic. ..

i love fruit from istanbul..
nice article..

[Sarah]

I wish there was a fruit man like that in our town. He has such a lively little office with photographs, paintings, radio, newspaper, pots... he must have a million stories to tell.

[Robyn]

Isn't he great Sarah? And he does have stories ... we hear 1 or 2 every time we're in town. He's a treasure.