Treasure Hunting in Altinkum: Didim's Sunday Flea Market

I have a personal interest in Didim's now-official weekly flea market - I can claim to be the founder. Several years ago I ran a local cafe up the hill from Altinkum beach and we hosted a little table-top sale on Sundays. The event became phenomenally popular and we soon ran out of tables for people to set up their stalls. Stallholders spilled out onto the surrounding streets, with dozens of sellers lining the pavements, selling anything from second-hand clothes, through to antique brassware, toys, homeware, and miscellaneous plumbing and electrical items. Sundays became the day when people would flock to Çamlık to browse the stalls and treat themselves to a grilled meatball sandwich and a çay at the cafe.

Eventually the market caught the attention of Didim Council. Our maverick market was banned for spurious reasons (apparently the vice squad were involved), but the council set up an official replacement on the site of the Wednesday fruit and veg market in Didim town centre. Stallholders now needed to apply through the council and pay a rent for their pitch, but Di-Bit, Didim's official flea market, or bit pazarı, was born.

I went for a browse last Sunday to see what had changed, and to try and bag myself a bargain.

The official entrance to Didim Flea Market is on İnönü Bulvarı, the large road heading up from Didim Council offices towards Mavişehir, opposite the main health centre, but I decided to start from the other end and walked up the side of the central mosque in the town centre. The first turning on the right, past the shop selling rotisserie chicken, is a lane lined on Sundays with tables of clothes, kitchen utensils, musical instruments, a hodge-podge of random bits and pieces. I had a look for a lid to match my double-bellied Turkish teapot, but ended up buying a couple of hair clips from a stall selling brand--new accessories.

Further into the market, the stalls diversify. There are stalls dedicated to pots and pans, others to 1980s electronics, still more featuring antique metalwear, vintage clothes, traditional Turkish arts and crafts, second-hand bicycles, sound systems, fishing gear, kitchen appliances, and many, many stalls selling pure bric-a-brac. I bought myself a beautiful brass pineapple that I've turned into a stand for a houseplant. My friend added to his collection of nargile or hookah pipes, and his mother admired the handmade lace and embroidered handtowels.

We wound up our afternoon at the pide shop across the road, with a well-earned glass of ayran and a delicious pide, a classic Turkish combination of a slightly salty yoghurt drink and a boat-shaped pizza topped with, in my case, white cheese and spinach, while my friend and his mum had kuşbaşı, literally birds-head but actually tiny chunks of beef or lamb, marinated in a tomato sauce.

If you like a car-boot sale, you want to bag yourself a bargain, or you're just looking for a novel way to spend a Sunday, Didim Flea Market might be just the place.

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