Istanbul Date Day - The Grand Bazaar

We were so excited to experience the Grand Bazaar, and we were even more excited to experience it  sans enfants.  The famous bazaar was so much more enjoyable while not keeping a death grip on our kids every second of the way.  And the kids much preferred hanging out with the sweet babysitter that the hotel found for us.  They played games, swam and watched movies. We shopped. A good day off/out for all of us.

Ready, steady, go!  Outside the gates!

 At 554 years old, perhaps the Grand Bazaar is the oldest mall in the world.   It's a covered labyrinth of shops and cafes selling typically Turkish goods like carpets, textiles, ceramics, lamps, tea, candy.  But there's also shops selling knock-offs of everything.  You absolutely must be ready for the crowds and ready to negotiate your price. During the Ottoman Empire the bazaar was the only place for merchants to buy and sell all the goods passing through Constantinople operating as a shopping venter, bank, and stock exchange.

Interestingly, the bazaar only gained its reputation for hawking, stealing, and other petty crimes during modern times; during the Empire it was very safe and well-regulated.  Maybe in part because if you got caught stealing you would be hanged . . . in front of the sultan, himself.

Our new carpet!

We had lunch at the legendary Fez Cafe inside the Bazaar.  Lentil soup, rosemary tea, Turkish coffee, oh my!

Rosemary tea.

Turkish coffee is a must-try specialty.  It's an unfiltered coffee, the beans boiled in a pot and then poured into cup with the grounds, which settle at the bottom.  It's usually served a few pieces of Turkish delight, a gel-like candy offered at meals and at tea time, as well as to customers in shops.  It was always on our hotel pillow each night.

The spice market, or Egyptian bazaar, sits in front of the Grand Bazaar toward the port at Galata Bridge, a port so deep ships can pull right up to shore--a defining feature of Istanbul/Constantinople for centuries and centuries.  Linking the two covered markets (Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar) is a crazy, crowded maze of shops and outdoor booths where locals do their daily shopping.

Walk with us through the spice market: