The Alley

"The Alley" is right off Base. It is filled with stores of all types: furniture, rugs, clothes, antiques. There are bars and restaurants and nail salons and tailors. While their prices are much lower than we'd see in the U.S., they are elevated for this area. The reason is, that they are targeting the "rich" Americans who live on Base.

While there are many families on Base, there are even more enlisted men and women who come by themselves. They don't bring a car. And many of them don't go any farther than the Alley. This is shocking to me. I can't imagine living in a place like this and never going any farther than your backyard. But that is the truth of it.

Adana is the biggest, closest city to us, and the place that people who are not afraid to travel will go to do a lot of their shopping. It's about 30 minutes from here. It's the town we went to the other day to go to the mall. Old Adana, supposedly, has prices that blow the Alley out of the water. I haven't been there yet so I can't say for sure.

But I have been to the Alley.

Kristy took me and my new friend Sarah A. and her son William to the Alley on Thursday. While you can walk there, the good stores are quite aways down. So she showed me how to drive my car off Base and where to park. Driving off-Base is nothing like driving on Base. The Turks are not impressed with my cautious driving or the fact that I don't understand that while there are no lane markers, they create their own lanes and I need to get out of their way. I got honked at a lot, but I stayed calm and just followed Kristy.

It was only a five minute drive so I managed quite well for that length of time. My knuckles could take the wheel gripping for that length of time.

We parked in a lot that costs about 1.5TL and then ventured out.

My initial thoughts?

• The items for sale were amazing gorgeous. Bath robes and towels and blankets. Scarves and jewelery boxes and jewelery. Carpets and hand painted pottery. I know what I am getting as Christmas gifts.
• My second thought was that I wished the boys weren't with me. I had to watch them so much I couldn't shop and even me, a non-shopper, would have loved some time to shop here. The good thing is that kids are welcome to run around like crazy people at these places and no one cares. They expect kids to do this.
• Everyone is incredibly nice. The shopkeepers speak very good English, offer you something to drink, and help watch the boys while you look around. One shopkeeper even brought out a parakeet to entertain them.
• However, despite their help, this isn't something I would ever do by myself with both boys or even by myself. The area was incredibly safe, but it is still something I would want to do with a friend. I borrowed Sarah A.'s single stroller since my BOB is really too big for the doorways of the shops and my other two long instead of wide strollers aren't here yet. Isaac helped push and Elijah rode along. However, the walkways have many steps, jagged edges, and high curbs. So pushing a stroller is not easy. Unfortunately, my boys are too big for those backpacks so I think I'd really need to be 1 on 1 with the boys (or get a babysitter) to do this again.

I have come to realize that I will not be leaving Base myself probably, at all. Kristy who is a pretty seasoned traveler, will go to the Alley by herself but no farther. JB's work schedule looks to be very good. Home most days for lunch and by 5pm with weekends free. So I think I will reserve my off-Base adventures for when he is in tow!