This is the Maiden's Tower. Ruslan's Flying Carpet is located just to the right of the tower. Samir's Qizil Gul is located immediately to the left.
You can't see one shop from the other with the tower in the way, so it's easy to say good bye to one and slip 'round to the other. Like, Ruslan, Samir has a reputation as a good guy to deal with. Unlike Ruslan, he doesn't have a Montreal Canadiens baseball cap. But I have a feeling there might be a Toronto Maple Leafs one in his future.
I can't remember what day last week that I went to Samir's, but John was with me, and this time, Ali came in with us instead of just dropping us off on the boulevard. He brought a pair of carpets with him that had belonged to his great grandmother and he wanted to have them appraised.
EEEEEEEEEE!!! Just like Christmas!!!
And Santa came....
The first thing we got Samir to show us, after the opening pleasantries and pouring of the tea, were some silks.....and we got some more lessons.
These were creeping up into the $1800 dollar range and we didn't see one that we liked better than the one we both liked at The Flying Carpet. We had quite a stack of rugs piled up in front of us and the colors and patterns were beginning to all run together again. I was at the point of not knowing what I wanted anymore. John wasn't getting stressed out over this at all since he had convinced himself that Ruslan's pale silk Tabriz was his ace in the hole. He had initially thought that getting a carpet of local design with symbolism unique to the area would be the way to go. He was looking for a souvenir, while I wanted something to go under the dining room table we'd buy when we got Stateside again. Somewhere along the way he got caught up in my mantra of silk and changed his mind.
Then Samir unfurled this one onto the top of the pile.
Oooooohhhh!!! Pitter patter....
It is a Kazak...from a region in northern Azerbaijan. It had symbols. The Tree of Life. Moustache to represent man, earring to represent woman, birds which stand in for dragons! And it was big and it had a velvety sheen because it's merino goat's wool, and it was priced sort of right, and we both liked it very much so we bought it. Why? Well, we both really did fall in love with it. Pretty much end of story....um...not really though.....because we didn't exactly stop shopping. We didn't have quite enough money on us to pay for the carpet, so I had to come back.
A few days later, John went off to Copenhagen to see about his new job and I went downtown to square things up with Samir. I bought 2 kilims. I wanted 3 to give as gifts, but only saw 2 that I wanted. Gosh....I have to come down here and do this again! Pity.
Then in a stroke of good luck John came back from Denmark with a commission....to find a carpet for friends who live in Copenhagen. They wanted a silk rug about 2 meters by 3 meters.....nothing to flashy....something nice, and subtle, but still with some color. They sent me a picture to go by via email and away we went on Saturday.
Our first stop was to Ruslan's and out of the 4 silk carpets he had shown us on our first day, only 2 were left. One of them was the silk we had liked so much. This, Ruslan took as a sign that it was meant to be ours. John murmured something about our friends probably liking this one, so maybe we should just get that one and go home. Well, that was all well and good but I had told them that I'd go 'round to the shops, take some photos and then upload them so they could make their own choice. I didn't see how I could send them one picture and say, "Okay, this is it. Hope you like it." Spending your friends money is fun but does come with some responsibility. Would you trust this man with your 1500 bucks?
You can probably tell by the blue eyes that isn't Ruslan....
For myself, I succumbed to a trio of 100% silk sumaq's.
They just happened to be laid out on top of someone's pile when we entered the shop.
They are magic carpets, they knew my name and called out to me......they told me evil lies.....We make excellent Christmas presents!
I'd bet at a meter by a meter and a half they are too big to fit in a suitcase. Bummer! None of my carpet lessons to date have taught me how to turn off the siren voices in my head.....that must be an advanced class down at the carpet museum.
Since we had many more shops to go and only one day to hit them up, I finally gave John the exit signal and started to head up the stairs. When I turned to see if he was coming or not, he was still standing next to his rolled up beloved silk. The next thing I know, he whips his right hand out of his jeans pocket, slaps the top of the roll and says, We'll take it!
Score one for the man in the silly hat! What? I shot him the look. The one that combines "Hellllllo!" and "WTF?" all into one brow furrow. At this point, knitted brows notwithstanding, I start stammering. Trying tell John we can't do that. We have to shop more. I have to send pictures to Copenhagen. Ruslan is happy. He begins to discuss getting the certificate. John and Ruslan see me fidgeting there. John back tracks a little at the sight of me and tells Ruslan he is 90% sure that he'll take it.He'll let him know 100% tomorrow.
I'm still standing on the first step....beginning to get giddy thinking he can't be buying this carpet for people who haven't even seen it! He must be buying it for us! He must be happier with his Danish compensation than I thought! No one has told him what the tax rates are in Denmark! Maybe there won't be any Clay trips for the next two and a half years?
We exit the rug shop and begin to walk past the tower.
And an archeological dig....
We are headed in the general direction of a whole street full of carpet shops. I am trying to figure out what John was thinking. I want to know if he bought that for us, or was he feeling lucky and confident enough to buy it for them. He told me he thought it was the best rug he had seen, and if they didn't want it then he'd buy it. Yikes! We wave off the entreaties of the first few shop owners and wander a bit. The bag of sumaqs is a big flag for the vendors....folks in a buying mood! Put on the tea!
Eventually, we stop...mostly so I can take pictures to satisfy my need to send some choices to our friends. John's interest is waning a little since he is convinced he has the right one on hold down the street. I'm beginning to think he was right.
This one was nice but not big enough.
I liked this one, and the guy really came down his price, but it didn't look much like the picture I was carrying.
Neither did this one....
Or this one.....
It's right about now that John gets a phone call from Ali. There's a big concert for the holidays happening down on the Boardwalk. He wants us to head that way and he'll meet us. It isn't exactly a nice balmy day for an outdoor concert and we could hear it from where we were in the Old City. Some one is singing Can't Touch This. We decide a couple of cappucinos at Caramel Cafe sound better. I am still in a state of shock over my maybe I own it/maybe I don't silk carpet (in addition to the one I already bought with The Tree of Life pattern, the 2 kilims, and the 3 sumaqs). But I have a dozen or more pictures of contenders to send to Denmark later that night.
This is the photo of the carpet that they liked the best.
Looks kind of familiar, doesn't it? No, he didn't say I told you so. He's just a little smug, that's all. But he's gone out of town for a couple of weeks so it's okay. This side step to Houston has backed up our move by almost a month...which means three more paydays before the Danish taxes kick in and the Euro-Budget becomes effective. I still owe Ruslan $250 bucks for the sumaqs since I was a little short that day, too. I'm going to have to drop by there this week to give him some money.
Luckily, I have learned that the amount you can offer is never limited to what's in your wallet. John told Ruslan he'd pay for the silk at the end of the month. Hmmmmm.....John's out of town for a couple of weeks and it doesn't matter whether you have money or not.....
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