Grand Bazaar in Istanbul / Grand Bazaar

What to Expect and Is It Worth Visiting

Grand Bazaar or big market of Kapala-charshi (Grand Bazaar, tour. Kapali Carsi) - this is the main point of sale for tourists, and at the same time a tourist attraction. Even if you are not going to buy anything, be sure to visit it while walking around the Sultanahmet district, and maybe even more than once. This is a very colorful market with trade traditions that have been around for several centuries, because it was built on the orders of Sultan Mehmed II The Conqueror (Fatih) back in 1461. There are more than 4000 shops and shops, (according to some sources even more than 5000), which are located on 60 streets. It is so large and confusing that it is better to have a map with you so as not to get lost in the maze. You can download, for example, here this one or this one on a smartphone for orientation.

The range of goods is huge: jewelry, antiques, leather and other clothing, carpets, ceramics, spices, coffee, fakes of famous brands, and of course an infinite number of souvenirs. There are cafes, restaurants, currency exchange, banks, there is even a mosque, a cemetery and a residential area. And until the middle of the XIX century, slaves were also traded here. Now they no longer trade, it seems...😊

But it is fair to say that despite the color and atmosphere, for economical shopping the market is not very suitable. Especially high prices for souvenirs, sweets, spices and other goods popular with tourists. Much cheaper all this can be bought in small shops on the street, or in the Egyptian market (aka The Spice Market). If you still decide to buy something here, you need to bargain, and compare prices in different shops, because they are very different for the same product. Trade in the East is a very delicate business, and very exciting. To get the goods two or three times lower than the originally stated price will be very nice, but for this you need to be able to bargain and earn the respect of the seller. Bargaining can be very emotional, even a little theatrical, but never show resentment or aggression. Then the seller will gladly give up the goods at a discount, even if during the auction he will pretend to be offended by such a low price. There will be no difficulties in haggling without knowledge of the language, almost all sellers understand Russian tolerably well, and in extreme cases use a calculator to indicate prices when bidding.

By the way, there are several exchange offices on the market with a very favorable exchange rate, higher than on Istiklal Street.

To make the trip to sights of Istanbul more interesting, you can choose a group or individual tour from local guides, including in Russian, on one of these trusted sites:

• Excursions from the tour operator TezTour
• Excursions from Sputnik8
• Trips from Tripster