Our quest, like so many quests, began innocently enough on an ordinary Tuesday morning as we walked briskly down the hill to catch the Bosphorus Ferry. As we neared the bottom of the hill we saw a pair of boxer shorts in a shop window that had daffy duck on them. They were the perfect gift for one of my brothers but since we had no time to stop then, we decided to try to find Daffy Duck on our way back to the hotel later that night - after all, how hard could it be to retrace our steps?
Later that evening we began back up the hill from the ferry, doing our very best to follow the exact same path through the narrow maze of streets that we had taken that morning. By the time we reached the top of the hill, we knew something wasn't right - we were nowhere near where we started that morning. We started back down the hill and then went up the hill a different way. This time we had more success eventually finding ourselves in the familiar "underwear alley" where store after store of both men's and women's unmentionables line the narrow cobbled street. You might think that this would be the perfect place to find Daffy Duck plastered on a pair of boxers, but you would be wrong. Lots of kinky Santa Clauses (don't ask) but no Daffy Duck.
'That's OK' we thought. 'We still have a few more more days here, we can look again tomorrow'. So we made our way back up the hill to our hotel. The next day, after meeting some friends up on Istiklal street on the other side of the golden horn, we once again decided to look for the shop on our way up the hill from the Galata Bridge. This time I was determined to find it. We wound our way making sure to cover each and every street until we reached the main clothing avenue leading up the hill to underway alley. We found thread, material, socks, jeans, skirts, scarves, tools, guns, belts, shoes, and lots of other stuff - but no Daffy Duck.
After a good night's sleep, however, we were ready to tackle the quest one last time. We were so serious about it that it was, in fact, the only thing on our agenda for Thursday. So, after petting a cat for good luck and getting a cup of coffee to set a good mood, we set out down the hill once more. We stopped at every corner to decide which way we had turned on Tuesday morning, until at last we reached a corner where we really couldn't remember which way we had turned. We chose the alley to the left. It quickly became clear that this alley, lined with shops selling thread, buttons, and ribbon, was one we had not seed yet, and was unlikely to yield Daffy.
We did the only thing to be done: we turned around and retraced our steps to that last corner and turned right. There it was. About halfway down the alley in a window display were the ever elusive Daffy Duck Boxers. Between the wild boxers, the shop across the street carrying umbrellas with fuzzy fringes, and the shop next door with a bag shaped like a giant shoe, the street carried the distinct aroma of absurd and bizarre. No wonder it was so hard to find.
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| One of the narrow alleys behind the spice bazaar |
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| rows of jeans on display |
'That's OK' we thought. 'We still have a few more more days here, we can look again tomorrow'. So we made our way back up the hill to our hotel. The next day, after meeting some friends up on Istiklal street on the other side of the golden horn, we once again decided to look for the shop on our way up the hill from the Galata Bridge. This time I was determined to find it. We wound our way making sure to cover each and every street until we reached the main clothing avenue leading up the hill to underway alley. We found thread, material, socks, jeans, skirts, scarves, tools, guns, belts, shoes, and lots of other stuff - but no Daffy Duck.
After a good night's sleep, however, we were ready to tackle the quest one last time. We were so serious about it that it was, in fact, the only thing on our agenda for Thursday. So, after petting a cat for good luck and getting a cup of coffee to set a good mood, we set out down the hill once more. We stopped at every corner to decide which way we had turned on Tuesday morning, until at last we reached a corner where we really couldn't remember which way we had turned. We chose the alley to the left. It quickly became clear that this alley, lined with shops selling thread, buttons, and ribbon, was one we had not seed yet, and was unlikely to yield Daffy.
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| Giant shoe in the shop next door to the one with our boxers. |
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