GRAND BAZAAR

Description

Essentials about the Grand Bazaar in brief

Visiting an oriental market is always an experience and this is especially true for the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul. It is the pulsating heart of the Turkish metropolis. With over 4,000 stores spread over an area of 20,000 square meters and over 60 streets, the Grand Bazaar is one of the largest and also oldest covered markets in the world. And, of course, it is also one of the busiest. Every day, up to half a million people come to look, marvel and, of course, shop in this shopping mecca.

The range of goods at the Grand Bazaar

Those who visit the Grand Bazaar find themselves in a maze of store aisles offering all the wonderful splendor of oriental goods. From lamps and carpets to fabrics, leather and silk goods, and gold and silver jewelry, there is practically nothing here that is not available. The Italian writer Edmondo de Amicis summed it up in the 19th century with the sentence: “No lover can walk through this bazaar without feeling it like a misfortune not to be a millionaire“. This is probably how most people still feel today.

The history of the Grand Bazaar

The Grand Bazaar was laid out shortly after the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in the mid-15th century. The center of the market is the Eski Bedesten (Old Cloth Hall) – originally planned as a treasury – under whose domes the stores of the gold and silver merchants are still located today. The Eski Bedesten used to be tightly closed and housed the particularly expensive goods. Suleyman the Magnificent later had the Yeni Bedesten (meaning “New Cloth Hall”) built, which is now called the Sandal Bedesten. The entire bazaar was originally built of wood. After several serious fires, Sultan Mustafa III had the buildings partially rebuilt in stone.

Orientation on the Grand Bazaar

You quickly get lost in the hustle and bustle of people in the bazaar. Fortunately, it helps to find your way around that – as is usual in bazaars – the stores in the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul are also sorted by sector, which can often be seen from the street names (e.g. Halici Sokaği, the carpet dealers’ street, or Sahaflar caddesi, the antique dealers’ street). Outside business hours, not only the stores but also the numerous entrances to the covered alleys are locked. In addition to the countless stores, the bazaar also has a number of banks, foreign exchange offices, mosques, fountains, hamams, restaurants and cafes.

Visiting the Grand Bazaar

Anyone visiting the Grand Bazaar should take a little time and drift through the winding alleys of the market to feel the magic of traditional bazaar life. Of course, what’s more in an oriental bazaar is the fact that you will be stopped more often on the way by merchants who, of course, advertise their goods to you as the best and cheapest.

If you get involved in a sales talk, you have to negotiate hard but fair. Bazaar traders are admittedly not easy “opponents” in a negotiation, but if you are a little clever and give the seller the feeling that she/he wants to buy the goods, but not at the called price, you will certainly be able to get one or the other percent discount.