Travel and Photography | Istanbul | Grand Bazaar On Instagram
© 2012 Wazari Wazir | Grand Bazaar Istanbul | Photograph Taken With iPhone | Edited With Instagram
The Grand Bazaar is located inside the walled city of Istanbul, in the district of Fatih and in the neighborhood (Turkish: Mahalle) bearing the same name (“Kapalıçarşı”). It stretches roughly from west to east between the mosques of Beyazit and of Nuruosmaniye. The Bazaar can easily be reached from Sultanahmet and Sirkeci by tram ( Line “T1”, tram stop “Beyazıt-Kapalıçarşı”).
The construction of the future Grand Bazaar’s core started during the winter of 1455/56, shortly after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople. Sultan Mehmet II had an edifice erected devoted to the trading of textiles. In its name, Cevâhir Bedestan (English: Gems Bedesten; but also in Ottoman Turkish: Bezzâzistan-i- cedîd, meaning in English: New Bedesten) the word “Bedesten” is an alteration of the Persian word bezestan (bedesten), derived from bez (“cloth”), and means “bazaar of the cloth sellers”.
The building – named alternately in Turkish “İç” (English: Internal), “Atik” (English: Ancient), or “Eski” (English: Old) Bedesten – lies on the slope of the third hill of Istanbul, between the ancient Fora of Constantine and of Theodosius. It was also near the first Sultan’s palace, the Old Palace (Turkish: Eski Sarayi), which was also in construction in those same years, and not far from the Artopoléia (Greek: Άρτοπωλεία) quarter, a location already occupied in Byzantine times by the bakers. (WikiPedia)
Actually on our recent visit to Istanbul, we didn’t spent much time inside the Grand Bazaar, simply because we didn’t plan to buy anything here and furthermore if we choose to wander inside the Grand Bazaar, it can easily took the whole day here, it’s so big, hence the name “Grand” and we can easily get lost inside here.
In term of photographic opportunity, yes the Grand Bazaar offers a lot, but like I said before we didn’t plan to buy anything here and I get annoyed with the sellers trying to push their stuff on us, they are not really pushy but whenever we get close to their shop, they will try to sell their things especially the carpet sellers, usually they will invite us to come inside their shop, have a cup of hot tea and invite us to take a look at their carpets, since we have no intention to buy those expensive carpets, I suggested to my friends that we just get out of here as soon as possible and find another great place to photograph.
If you plan to visit the Grand Bazaar, I suggested that you visit the place on your last day before you depart to another places or flying back home, trust me, it can easily take a whole day to visit the Grand Bazaar, you can buy all kind of souvenirs here. Take a photograph for a few hours and then concentrate on buying things. Trust me, you can easily get lost here, if you travel with few friends, I suggested to you to make a plan, make a meeting point where you will gather, in case you are lost somewhere, or if you have bought the sim card for you phone, then it will be easy for you to contact your friends.
We stayed in Cemberlitas, not very far from Istanbul famous Cemberlitas Hamami, and from our hotel, it took less than fifteen minutes to get to the Grand Bazaar, yes it was close enough. Some people like to stay in Taksim area but to those who enjoy photography, I recommended to you to stay in Sultanahmet area, so it will be easy for you to get close to Istanbul famous landmark such as AyaSofya, Blue Mosque and Grand Bazaar, just to name a few, the reason is that, Istanbul weather is unpredictable, you can get a beautiful sunshine today and raining the next day, so if you stay somewhere around Sultanahmet, you can visited those places few times at a different time of the day and hopefully you will get your best shot, but if it rains, Grand Bazaar is waiting for you. Great place to hang around to keep you warm.
