IN EGYPT THEY CALL IT A SOUK, in Morocco it’s a Medina. Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar has been in business since 1461, steadily expanding to cover 45,000 square meters—about eleven acres— spread out over 64 streets with 4000 shops, restaurants, banks, a mosque, police station and a post office. More than 300,000 visitors a day enter the Bazaar through twenty-two gates and odds are very few come out the same way they entered. When we finally stumbled out, empty-handed, we were totally lost!
One of 22 entrances to the Grand Bazaar
Jewelry and more
You can buy gold and silver jewelry, metal goods, lamps and lanterns, spices, ceramics, textiles and, of course, carpets! But never on a Sunday. If you see something you want you should buy it immediately—you’ll never be able to find the same shop later on.
All that glitters . . .
Lamps and Lanterns; amulets, too
It wouldn't be a Bazaar without carpets
On Sunday we decided to make it all the way to the Galata Towers across the Golden Horn. We worked our way past the tour boats to the Bosphorus where hundreds of fishermen lined the Galata Bridge. From the size of their fishing rods you would think they were after tuna but the catch was mostly finger-size sardines! Despite the breeze on the Bosphorus the smoke from hundreds of foul-smelling cigarettes kept us moving across the bridge.
Fishing and Smoking on the Bosphorus
We used to call that "Bait"
The “original” Galata Tower was built by Justinian in the 6th Century as part of the city's defenses. Its current incarnation was built by the Genoese in the mid-1300s. It sits atop a steep hill and I staggered from bench to bench catching my breath—blame it on my cold, not my age.
Taking a break on the hill to Galata Tower
Sunday Morning, Galata Tower
Now it's a Museum
The Tower is now a museum and paying to climb to the top didn’t seem like a good deal. We contemplated going on to Taksim Square but I talked Connie out of it. Seven miles for the day would be enough.
