Kapalıçaşı

The signs tell us that Istanbul's Grand Bazaar - Kapalıçaşı - began in 1455, and almost 560 years later it is a feast of colour and sound.  Once you step through one of its ancient gates, you're under its spell. Colourful vaulted roofs and stone vaulted alleys cover thousands of storeholders and stalls.  Every beckoning seller tries to entice you in - to buy their lanterns, jewellery, textiles, spices, souvenirs, junk and treasures. Their trading skills are well-honed, the hapless shopper can only try!

My favourite in Kapalıçarşı  is probably the Iznik art trader selling tiles, traditional Turkish pottery, jars, jugs, and water bottles.  The signature blues and whites of the ceramics swirl enticingly.  The trader himself needs do nothing really, I'm in, my eyes don't know what to feast on first.  Oh, and I love tea and coffee deliverers, they scurry around, ducking and weaving through the crowd, delivering delicate glass cups of steaming apple tea to their neighbouring merchants.

The architectural features of the Kapalıçarşı probably outshine the traders though, the arches and columns, the brickwork, the copper and marble water fountains and then there's that feeling that you're walking through a maze of alleyways where people have shopped for hundreds of years. Maybe that's the thing that aşkım and I love best about Kapalıçarşı.

Take a look.....

This is the best map of Kapalıçarşı, not that you need
a map, it's more fun getting lost, but use it to make
sure you find you way into the courtyards, the 'hans'.

The maze of beautiful, vaulted, alleyways.

Aren't they just beautiful?

.... so are the tiny textile stores

And glittering lantern stores

My favourite - Iznik Art

Detail of the Kapalıçarşı arch ceiling

...and the best decorated cafe chairs in
the Grand Bazaar!

Brass and marble water fountain

The Beyazit gate, one of many that will
transport you into the treasure trove of
the Grand Bazaar

This is the gate to the Egyptian Spice Bazaar,
the Misirçarşısi

So many types of lokum - Turkish delight

And dazzling array of spices

....more sweets

hanging pastramis, a slice as thin
as tissue paper for your tasting...

.....spices we've never heard of....

I joined the queue to buy freshly
ground coffee at Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi's

Have your lira ready, though, the
queue moves very quickly.  Customers
slap their coins on the wooden counter,
one packs your order, the other slaps your
change on the counter.  The knocking tap, tap, tap
on the counter is the beat that moves the
customers along.

Summer berries are sweet

The spice bazaar is in Eminonu
district right next to the New Mosque -
the Yeni Cami -
We love that it's called the New Mosque...
it's only about 400 years old!

now this is old....the Oblelisk of Theodosius in
the Hippodrome... re-erected in 390AD!