Istanbul Shopping Diary

by Roger Webster and Jason Grant

The big and beautiful Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.

“My brother has a leather shop across the street.”

“My cousin’s carpet store is around the corner.”

“If we drink tea together, we’ll be friends for 14 years.”

The sales calls of the Turkish merchants almost rival the calls to prayer that ring five times a day from the minarets dotted all over Istanbul.

After three intense days in Maastricht at The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF), we decided to make a pilgrimage to where it all began, Turkey. While TEFAF is possibly the world’s most exclusive shopping mall, the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is the oldest and largest. We secured the last two seats on KLM’s three-hour flight from Amsterdam. March was a good time to go because there were not many tourists.

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque is the national mosque of Turkey. Modeled after Hagia Sophia, it was built in the 17th century during the rule of Ahmed I. It is commonly known as the Blue Mosque because of the hundreds of the myriad blue tiles decorating the interior walls.

Straddling the Bosporus Strait, Istanbul is the only city on two continents, Europe and Asia. It began as Byzantium, founded by Greek colonists in 667BC and became Constantinople when Emperor Constantine made it the capital of the Roman Empire in 324. The Ottoman Turks conquered and renamed it Istanbul in 1453. The city was the capital of the Ottoman Empire for 500 years until the 20th century, when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, moved the capital to Ankara. Today, Istanbul is a modern city of 20 million people.

The Grand Bazaar is in the heart of the old city. We stayed nearby in the Sultanahmet section where two of the city’s most significant monuments, Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, face each other across gardens.

Hagia Sophia or Holy Wisdom is one of the most notable buildings in history. It was constructed in the 6th century under Emperor Justinian on the site of two churches that had been built and destroyed. Today, it is acknowledged as the epitome of Byzantine architecture.

Inside Hagia Sophia.

Detail of a Hagia Sophia chandelier.

To get a variety of local experiences, we stayed in a few different hotels in Sultanahmet. First on the list was the Sultanhan, a gracious hotel. The next was the family friendly Blue House, so named not only because it’s in arm’s distance of the Blue Mosque but also because this old merchant house has been painted blue. The Four Seasons was the best.

The Sultanhan Hotel lobby. Inset: A Sultanhan Hotel room.

The Dining Room at The Four Seasons.

The Bazaar Quarter is just a short walk or shorter train ride away from Sultanahmet. The Grand Bazaar was established by Sultan Mehmet II shortly after his conquest of the city in 1453. Because of extensive fires and destructive earthquakes over the centuries, it has had many restorations.

The Bazaar resembles a giant labyrinth covered by painted vaults. There are 22 gates, 64 streets, 4 fountains, 2 mosques, a dozen restaurants and roughly 25,000 employees and 4,000 shops, selling jewelry, carpets, glazed tiles and pottery, copper and brassware, leather, cotton and wool apparel, meerschaum pipes, alabaster bookends, ashtrays and all sorts of other things.

The Kapalicarsi Gate to the Grand Bazaar. Originally the Bazaar consisted of two 15th century, thick-walled buildings that were covered with a series of domes. In later centuries, as streets developed around these buildings, they were incorporated, becoming new, covered additions. This turned the Bazaar into a trading center. At one time, each lane was reserved for a different profession and the handicrafts produced there were rigorously controlled. Business ethics and traditions have always been strictly followed.

Carpets are probably the most important commodity. When you're walking on the streets in the Bazaar, people approach you and invite you to see their collections. They are tenacious, but if you ignore them, eventually they go away. When you enter a carpet shop, you're first offered coffee, tea or a coke usually with a warm smile. Feel free to accept without any obligation.

Trimming the fringe.

Belly Dancing costumes.

Inlaid boxes and Chess sets.

Abdullah Dogar owns the ABC Rugs Gallery. Abdullah’s big moment was a visit from Bill Clinton in 2001. We had a delicious lunch with him in the Bazaar at the Davidoff Café.

Sinan Gur, who has a scarf shop on Fesciler Caddessi, was invaluable. He demonstrated with samples that all Pashmina is not the same. You can order from him on the Internet and he delivers anywhere in the world. Sinan recommended the popular Kanaat Restaurant in Uskudar, which was just a ferry ride across the Bosporus to the Asian side.

And then there was The Bazaar’s treasure trove of jewels and jewelry ...

Antique watches and rings and things ...

Old silver ...

Coral ...

Modern rings ...

Semi-Precious jewels ...

Emeralds, sapphires, and rubies ...

The price of the gold is adjusted hourly to market value. Jewelry is sold by weight regardless of the design or craftsmanship ...

We took a Turkish coffee break at the Fes Café near the Antique Market.

In a courtyard adjacent to the Grand Bazaar is the remarkable Bookseller’s Bazaar ...

New and old books in several languages.

Calligraphy and books ...

Calligraphy is a major art form.

Hand painted illustrations.

The Egyptian Bazaar or Spice Market, built in 1664, is a five-minute walk from the much larger Grand Bazaar and near the port of Eminönü. It is filled with the exotic fragrance of Spices, dried fruits, nuts and seeds. Turkish Delight (lokum) and other edibles also fill most of the shops.

While it’s true that many booths look the same, a few words with one of the salesmen and you will know whether to stay or move on.

A Sidewalk café near the entrance.

Entering the Spice Market.

The Rüstem Pasha Mosque on the Golden Horn is just outside the Spice Market.

Lining the back walls of the gourmet spice shops there are old apothecary jars filled with oils, oak cabinets filled with spices ...

Not the pre-packaged versions or the powdered mounds found in the front, but the epicure’s delight, and maybe even the Aphrodisiac of the Sultans.

A selection of cheeses ...

Sponges ...

We met Cihan Demir in The Caviar Center of the Spice Market. He says that he is in University now, but someday he will be as successful as “Barack Obama."

The caviar comes in tins, maybe wheels is the right word. Bargain for the Iranian caviar. Remember Iran and the Caspian Sea are neighbors. Turkey shares borders with Iran, Iraq, Syria, Georgia, Greece, and Bulgaria and is across the Black Sea from Russia and The Ukraine.

Saffron is the fourth most expensive food in the world after edible gold, white truffles and caviar. A pound of dry saffron requires the dried stigmas from 50,000–75,000 Saffron or Autumn Crocus flowers, the equivalent of a football field's area of cultivation.

Prices range from $500 to $5,000 a pound. In the Spice Market there are four different kinds of saffron, Iranian at the high end, then Turkish, Mexican and Spanish.

Almost everything in the Spice Market is sold by weight.

Dates and sweets ...

Dried fruit ...

Viagra and sweets ...

Healthy tea at the Spice Market ...

The narrow streets near the bazaars, especially Hasircilar Caddesi are very colorful, with shops selling flowers, snacks, clothing and house wares ...

Shopping street on the way to the Grand Bazaar.

Fresh flowers off the street.

Turkish Delight.

Headscarves are a MAJOR fashion statement.

Sexy underwear.

Colorful brassieres.

Always a view of a minaret down the street.

And street food too ...

The drink of choice: fresh squeezed orange and pomegranate juice.

L. to r.: Corn on the cob; Shawarma is made by placing strips of meat or marinated chicken on a spit; an onion or tomato are placed at the top of the stack to provide flavoring. The meat is then roasted slowly as the spit rotates in front of or over a flame. Yum Yum.

Fresh strawberries.

On our last day in Istanbul, we took a cruise up the Bosporus. The views were spectacular. Homes along the banks run the gamut from simple to pasha elegance.