Shopping in Istanbul old and modern
The most important and oldest bazaar in Istanbul is the Grand Bazaar. This giant accommodates about 4,500 stores, restaurants and other establishments rendering services. The whole town with 60 streets. There are several entrances, but the most convenient is the one at the tram stops, which is called the Grand Bazaar.
There are millions of different things, but we just dropped by to have a look, since it’s a very old bazaar founded back in 1400’s.
Here’s the atmosphere inside 🙂
A bunch of people, that’s the main street.
Turkish lamps seemed the most beautiful to us. Stores with lamps always have such a mysterious light – they beckon with their beauty. However, not only the goods are nice, you should raise your head to the ceiling – it’s an old building – interesting arches, patterns, cracks, and windows.
Those who are tired can drink tea and eat baklava.
We best remembered colorful dishes and lamps from the entire assortment. We didn’t inquire about the prices as we don’t do such shopping and you have to haggle over the price with the Turks, so nobody writes the price.
Beautiful – like the story of Aladdin.
And here they make tea for all Grand Bazaar’s employees. If there are 4,500 stores, there are no less sellers. Those who want to drink tea – and it’s like chewing a gum for the Turks – call on landline phone or walkie-talkie and order. The waiters carry it on trays. And around the bazaar near the stores you can see empty cups, which the same waiters collect afterwards on all streets.
A colorful place. We walked through two or three streets and that was enough. Outside the bazaar, there are hundreds of thousands of stores. You can easily get lost, and it will be a difficult task to reach the same store again.
This is another little bazaar. There are enough of them in every quarter-neighborhood.
The most popular dish at bazaars is baklava and other sweets.
And someone buys carpets.
In tourist restaurants you can observe such ladies who demonstrate as they cook buns or cakes.
Another popular bazaar – Spice Bazaar. You can find any spice here, mix for different types of dishes.
This bazaar is much smaller than the Grand Bazaar. It’s located opposite Eminonu station and tourist restaurants-boats near the Galata Bridge.
There’s always many people at each sales counter. Turnover of commodities and money is endless.
And there’s also a fish bazaar in a seaside city of Istanbul.
Next to each counter, there’s an inviter who hands fish over to another one, who peels it, and the money are separately given to cashier. They cool fish all the time, pour cold water. We came in the evening, but a lot of fish has not been sold out yet. It’s not surprisingly, the price of one piece ranges from 5TL (almost $ 2). They don’t count per kilo. Another question is where they catch it, since water near Istanbul is extremely dirty. However, this doesn’t prevent local fishermen to fish from anywhere: from the Galata Bridge, at adjacent stations where ships are swimming here and there.
And this is a modern place for shopping. Istanbul Forum – Europe’s largest shopping mall, as they assure in the booklet. Four floors and a separate building for IKEA connected by a bridge.
To get inside IKEA or Forum, you have to pass the security check on dangerous things like at airports, but without X-rays. Security guards are also walking in the halls, and they can often be seen. There’s no free Wi-Fi here. Actually it is, but you need to have a local SIM card to register.
In general there are about 500 shopping centers in Istanbul, and many more bazaars and outlets outside the city. A common thing for a 17-million metropolis.
With love, RH.
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