Bizarre bazaar
No trip to Istanbul would be complete with a few hours – at least – spent wandering around the vibrant, exotic and intriguing attraction that is the Grand Bazaar. This is where you get a real feel for the eastern roots of Turkey, in amongst the westernization of Istanbul and the Turkish people. You can feel at times that things haven’t changed much here for centuries – apart from the electronic items on the stalls and the adverts for payg mobile broadband.
It’s one if the largest and most popular covered markets in the whole world, covering 58 streets and featuring over 4,000 shops and stalls, selling everything from traditional crafts and spices to tacky Istanbul souvenirs and DVDs. With up to half a million visitors a day, be prepared to battle your way through massive crowds to get through the bazaar – and watch out for pickpockets who make a habit of targeting distracted Western tourists!
Don’t worry if you normally hate shopping as wandering around the Grand Bazaar is definitely not about the goods for sale. It’s the heart of Istanbul and the easiest place to see how the Istanbul residents live. The building itself features some stunning architecture, fountains and even works of art on the walls. A far cry from our modern soulless shopping malls! It can be easy to forget the time as you explore the winding streets; I often find myself walking in circles, coming across the same stalls two or even three times, before I figure out where I’m going wrong! Sometimes I think it would be a good idea to drop breadcrumbs to make sure I could find my way out, but part the of fun of exploring the Grand Bazaar is getting impossibly lost amongst all that fabulous colour and noise.
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