Around Adana: The Women’s Market & Fabric District
One fun thing about living in a foreign country, even a Wednesday spent in town can be an adventure full of new sights and sounds. This past Wednesday one of the other spouses was taking her sister who is visiting, to the Women’s Market and the Fabric District, and invited me to tag along.
The Women’s Market takes place every Wednesday in New Adana, under a football field sized metal roof. Here you can find table after table of handmade goods including knitted baby clothes, woven rugs and blankets, clothes, jewelry, and home decor.
There is also a whole section devoted to food 🙂
After we spent a while perusing the goods (I’m planning to go back once the baby is born and pick up a few sweaters – they are only 10TL! That’s less than $5 a piece!)
In the food section you can find an array of treats both savory and sweet. I had one of the slices in the round pan pictured above that cost me 2TL (about $0.95). I didn’t get the name of it, but it was basically a puff pastry filled with an assortment of vegetables and possibly a little cheese. It was awesome.
The most common food seemed to be these crepe-like delicacies called g̦zleme Рhand rolled dough filled with various ingredients including veggies, meat and cheese.
Once they are sealed they are cooked till golden on these large circular griddles.
The sweets tables were drool-worthy. There were pans of baklava dripping in honey, Turkish delights…
eclairs, chocolate glazed flan-type tarts…
what looked like pistachio cakes…
and these little Boston Cream Pie-esque things, one of which definitely went home with me.
There were also booths where you could buy fresh made pasta and dumplings, honey, eggs, cheese, grains, and spices.
The people were incredibly friendly, not pushy at all, and let me practice on my Turkish. Knowing my numbers and how to say “how much” was VERY important. For your information, “how much” is “ne kadar.”
The fabric district is located in Old Adana, and is exactly what the name implies.
On these streets you will find store front after store front busting at the seams with bolts of fabric.
It’s very easy to find someone to make just about anything you want here (most of the women at the Women’s Market are more than happy for you to bring them fabric and request something). Whether you are looking for new curtains, a knockoff of your favorite dress, or just want to pick up some fabric to make some new throw pillows…this is the place to go.
One of the girls that went with us has been here just over a year and shops this district pretty regularly. She buys fabrics she likes, then takes them along with her favorite dresses to a seamstress she has made friends with here who copies the dress patterns and creates new dresses for the low price of 20TL.
It was wonderful going out into the city. I was surprised how modern parts of it seemed, and was excited to see so many cool restaurants with awesome patios that I can’t wait to try.
A big thank you to Alex and Emily for letting me come along and showing me such a great part of the city. I can’t wait to go back!
