Istanbul, also known in the past as Constantinople or Byzantium. This amazing city is located on two continents – Europe and Asia. It was its remarkably rich history, culture and tasty turkish cuisine that persuaded us to make a city break here. On the second day of our city break we decided to visit three stunning sights – Blue mosque, Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar.
Grand Bazaar in Istanbul
How to get here from Blue Mosque
From Blue Mosque we are going to the Sultan Ahmet park. In the mobile stall so typical for Istanbul we buy pastry for refreshment (1 turkish lira (TRY) per piece, if you want with nutella 2TRY) .
Along with the tram track we are heading up the hill to the next attraction – the Grand Bazaar. This shopping covered market is close to the tram stop Çemberlitaş. It is only one stop from Sultanahmet tram stop. The walk takes around 15 minutes so we don’t take the tram.
Passing the area of Nuruosmaniye mosque after few metres we are standing in front of the gate Nuruosmanyie to Grand Bazaar – Kapaliçarşi.
Long walk in the streets of the bazaar
We enter the gate and walk down the hall of one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world. You can find here more than 3000 shops. The main hall is wide, the ceiling is beautifully decorated by yellow color with ornaments. Tourists from all over the world buy here various souvenirs like magnets, ceramics, soaps, leather products, lamps, spices and so on. We are trying to enjoy the rush atmosphere of this interesting place.
There is magical atmosphere here. You can feel like you are travelling through time to the past. Streets are full of hundreds or maybe thousands of people. It is estimated that more than 400.000 people visit this place per day.
In wide and narrow streets of the Grand Bazaar we spent more than 2 hours. We use our negotiating skills learned on our Asia travels and buy some souvenirs as a memory on Istanbul 🙂
We stroll through the narrower streets. There are dozens of such streets here. Indeed, you can easily get lost here 🙂 Seem like we got the oldest part called Old Bazaar. The vendors in this part offer different type of products. One can find here jewelry shops, antiquities, carpets and the like.
Time for visit: 2-3 hours
Location: Sultanahmet
Entrance fee: free
Spice bazaar – Spice market – Misir Çarşisi
Finally, after long walk through the Grand Bazaar we decided to go to another famous market – the Spice Bazaar (or Spice market). It takes only 15 minutes walk to get here. And good news, all the time downhill 🙂 On both sides of the street to the Spice market there are plenty of shops.
Na Trhu s korením okrem samotného korenia, ponúkajú obchodníci aj rôzne čaje, a samozrejme nespočetné množstvo tureckých sladkých špecialít 🙂
We stroller through the Spice market much faster as it is not as big as the Grand Bazaar.
After small walk in the streets of Spice market we are heading to the Eminönü tram stop. It is no more than couple of meters from the Spice market. We buy tickets and cross the turnstile which is on each tram stop. In a short while the tram comes heading to Sultanahmet. On the third stop we get off the tram and return to the hotel. We are so tired but full of impressions from the whole day and amazing atmosphere of the visited places 🙂
Time for visit: up to 1 hour
Location: Eminönü
Entrance fee: free of charge
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