Turkey Travel Part XII: Spice Bazaar & Grand Bazaar
(continued)
Day 9
Monday, 21 Oct 2019
Visiting Two Large Bazaars of Istanbul
After lunch at Imperial Galata Restaurant, we walked across Galata Bridge and went to two large bazaars known as Spice Bazaar and Grand Bazaar in Istanbul City.
The location of the two bazaars are shown in the pictorial map below.
Spice Bazaar
Opened since 1664, Spice Bazaar is the second largest bazaar after Grand Bazaar in Turkey. It houses over 80 shops selling spices, Turkish Delights, jewellery, souvenirs, dried seeds, nuts and fruits, and many more. It is a tourists’ favourite place.
Main Entrance of Spice Bazaar
The photo below shows the main entrance of Spice Bazaar.
Tourists Throng Spice Bazaar
Tourists throng Spice Bazaar every day. It is a market place where goods ranging from spices to jewellery are sold.
Writer and wife together with tourmates visited Spice Bazaar on 21 Oct 2019.
Shops in Spice Bazaar
The following photos below show shops selling the Turkish products in Spice Bazaar.
(i) A Spice Bazaar shop selling a wide variety of Turkish edible products
(ii) Different kinds of spices for sale at a Spice Bazaar shop
(iii) Boxes of Turkish Delights with different flavours for sale at a Spice Bazaar
(iv) A wide variety of sweet Turkish Delights for sale at a Spice Bazaar shop
(v) Dried seeds, nuts and fruits for sale at a Spice Bazaar shop
(vi) A wide variety of dried flowers and fruits for making tea for sale at a Spice Bazaar shop
(vii) Dried seed, nuts and fruits for sale at a Spice Bazaar shop
(viii) Boxes of Turkish tea with flavours of apple, orange, rose, cinnamon, pomegranate, honey and ginger for sale at a Spice Bazaar shop
(ix) A souvenir shop at Spice Bazaar
(x) White table-cloths, bar-napkins, tea-towels, etc. for sale at a Spice Bazaar shop
(xi) A Spice Bazaar’s gift shop
(xii) An ice-cream seller tricked a customer in getting the ice-cream the latter asked for at a Spice Bazaar shop
(xiii) Beef for sale at a Spice Bazaar shop
(xiv) A Spice Bazaar shop selling “kebab” which is bread stuffed with slices of meat, salad and some sauce
(xv) Photo below shows “kebab” for sale at a Spice Bazaar shop
Grand Bazaar, Istanbul
Grand Bazaar was the next Turkish bazaar we visited. It is a couple of hundred metres from Spice Bazaar.
Grand Bazaar was established in 1461. Now it has over 60 covered streets lined with over 4000 shops selling a wide variety of products ranging from spices, dried nuts and fruits, souvenirs to handbags and jewellery. An average of 300 000 people visited the bazaar, daily.
Entrances into Grand Bazaar
There are many entrances into Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey. Below is one of them.
Another entrance into Grand Bazaar
Turkish National Flag
A Turkish national flag hanging in one of the covered streets in Grand Bazaar
Shops in Grand Bazaar
Below are photos taken at Grand Bazaar on 21 Oct 2019 showing many kinds of Turkish products sold by the shops.
(i) Colourful dried fruits for sale at a Grand Bazaar shop
(ii) Handbags for sale at a Grand Bazaar shop
(iii) Jewellery for sale at a Grand Bazaar shop
(iv) Colourful scarves for sale at a Grand Bazaar shop
(v) Nazars that ward off evil eye, talismans, amulets, etc. for sale at a Grand Bazaar shop
(vi) Colourful Turkish lanterns for sale at a Grand Bazaar shop
(vii) T-shirts for sale at a Grand Bazaar shop
(viii) A cafe at Grand Bazaar
Chinese Dinner at The Wox Restaurant
After a couple of hours at the two large bazaars in Istanbul, we went to a Chinese restaurant called “The Wox” in Sultanahmet for our first Chinese but last dinner in Turkey. It is about 1 km from Grand Bazaar.
“Home Sweet Home”
After dinner, we checked in at Turkey’s New Airport in Istanbul and flew back to Malaysia, our homeland, after midnight on 22 Oct 2019.
It was a safe journey home, thanks to Turkish Airlines.
Return Air-Flight Route
Map showing the air-flight route back home from Istanbul, Turkey, to KLIA, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 22 Oct 2019
Acknowledgement
Writer and tourmates would like to thank Chiu Travel Agency in Malaysia for the memorable tour in Turkey.
Thanks, too, to Brian Wong, our tour-manager, Cenmal, our Turkish tour-guide, and Metun, our Turkish coach-driver. Without them, our successful tour would not be possible.
Writer and wife thank all our tourmates for the wonderful time we have together during the Turkey tour from 13-22 Oct 2019.
THE END
Places visited during Turkey Tour(13-22 Oct 2019):
Trojan Horse/Ancient Troy Cities Asklepion Ephesus Hierapolis/Pamukkale Travertine Sultanhani Caravanserai Pasabag Valley Uchisar Valley/Kaymakli Underground City Gerome Valley/Turkish Night Show Hot Air Balloon/Lake Golu/Anitkabir Hagia Sophia/Topkapi Palace/Blue Mosque Bosphorus Boat Cruise Spice Bazaar/Grand Bazaar
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