After spending two days touring Malta, my two day stopover in Istanbul consisted of several things I wanted to see but couldn’t. Unfortunately I missed seeing inside the Blue Mosque since it was temporarily closed for renovations; and a boat cruise of the Bosporus because conditions were so cold and foggy as to render such activity undesirable and with no views at all. Therefore I resolved that someday soon I would come back and do an extended tour through several Turkish cities including more of Istanbul.
At the top of my bucket list was visiting the Grand Bazaar. When hearing its name before, the word ‘bazaar’ always carried with it an air of mystery and enchantment for me until finally visiting in person.
The Grand Bazaar is one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world, housing thousands of merchants selling goods. Housed within intricately painted hallways are thousands of merchants selling everything from clothing, jewelry, kilim carpets, spices, furniture and ornamental lamps all over Istanbul’s narrow and worn cobblestone streets which wind out like an intricate web like business clusters extending past its walls – the latter connecting back into each area for further business activities such as clothing sales.
Bargaining is part and parcel of shopping at the Grand Bazaar (though not other stores in Istanbul). When vendors propose prices higher than they anticipate, buyers often counter with offers much lower. Negotiations continues until both parties meet somewhere in the middle and agree upon an acceptable price point. On this visit to Istanbul I only spent about two hours wandering around exploring shops and admiring all their wares before heading home empty handed.
My dream would have been to bring home a Turkish rug from this trip; unfortunately I wasn’t prepared for the task of hunting down, negotiating and shipping one home on such a brief visit. Someday though I would love to purchase an authentic Turkish rug in Turkey itself and so another reason to come back! But don’t you agree that searching out your perfect piece would be fascinating? Take a peek into a few shops – don’t you agree it would make the perfect addition for your home?
