Grand Bazaar Istanbul

Grand Bazaar – Gigantic!

Covered Bazaar

In Turkish the Grand Bazaar is called Kapalı Çarşı, which means “Covered or Closed Bazaar”.  It is not the oldest bazaar in the world – a better claim would belong to Tabriz, Persia, a major stop on the ancient Silk Road. Even though Constantinople was the main terminus of the Silk Trade Routes (see the Silk Routes Map), the Grand Bazaar was only started in 1455, just after the Ottoman conquest of Byzantium. Of course, there were commercial “forums” before then but the Grand Bazaar was covered. Perhaps we can say this was the oldest indoor shopping centre. 

 

Books on the Grand Bazaar

Sirkeci Mansion




It’s hard to believe we are back in Istanbul for our second four-day sojourn. Eight days may seem like a lot of time but in some ways it feels like we are just scratching the surface. For maps and travel advice we would recommend the book Rick Steve's Istanbul and the free Quick Guide Istanbul (author Serif Yenen), which I believe we got at our fabulous hotel, Sirkeci Mansion. The Quick Guide is a set of cardboard brochures including a glossy map and info on the Grand Bazaar.

 



Tram from Sultanahmet

Getting to the Grand Bazaar

The Grand Bazaar west side can be reached by tram at the Beyazıt-Kapalıçarşı stop. For the east side, we hopped on the modern electric tram to the earlier Çemberlitaş stop.

Çemberlitaş Column

Shopkeepers

The first thing we saw was the Çemberlitaş column. It was constructed by Emperor Constantine in 330 CE to celebrate the town Byzantium being renamed Nova Roma and becoming the capital of the Roman Empire. However, the people called it Constantinople (city of Constantine) and that name stuck.

As discussed in the Amazing Ancient Rome Walk, the Roman Empire did NOT fall in AD 476.  Rome the city fell.  The rest of the territory was still called the Roman Empire. The term Byzantine Empire is a 16th century German invention: it never existed.

Ottoman Artifacts

The Çemberlitaş column was so damaged by an earthquake in 416 CE that it is on life support with iron hoops holding it together.  The top of the column used to support a statue of Constantine that lasted until it was toppled by a storm in 1106.  The column is ugly but it’s the last remnant from Constantine, who put Istanbul and Christianity on the map and thus changed world history.  In fact, the column marked the centre of the forum, Constantinople's main square.



The Seven Hills of Nova Roma

Interestingly, Constantinople was situated on seven hills just like Rome!  The comparison was intentional since it was originally called Nova Roma.

Hagia Sophia

The first hill contains Hagia Sophia and the Topkapi Palace.  The Grand Bazaar is on the second hill on the site of a former palace and the Forum of Constantine.  The third hill houses the Süleymaniye Mosque.

Nuruosmaniye




At its peak in 200 CE, it is estimated that Rome had 1,000,000 people. This decreased dramatically due to various plagues brought in via the Silk Routes and then the fall of Rome.  Constantinople then became the largest and wealthiest city of Europe up until its zenith in the 12^th century with a population of around 600,000 people (600 CE). 

Venice

Venice was both a trade partner and adversary of the Byzantine Empire, sacking Constantinople in 1204, seizing many of its Mediterranean territories, and carting off many treasures, including the metal decorations around the Çemberlitaş column.  Venice was one of the three largest cities in Europe in 1171 with a population of a mere 66,000 people. 

Nuruosmaniye Gate

Nuruosmaniye Gate 

Nuruosmaniye Walking north towards the Nuruosmaniye Mosque (1755), we entered the oldest gate, Nuruosmaniye, near the Nuruosmaniye Köftecisi (meatball shop).  Nuruosmaniye means sacred light of Osman, the name of the family that became known as the Ottomans.  The gate leads to the main east-west street, Kalpakcilar Caddesi or Hat Maker Street. Today this is jewelry alley.

  

Explore Side Streets

The Ottoman Empire not only controlled a vast area across three continents, but had complete monopoly of the former Silk Routes.  As the hub for Mediterranean trade, it is logical that this led to an enormous shopping mall (47,600 sq. m.) covering 61 streets.  Each street was dedicated to a particular trade or bedesten.  Because the Grand Bazaar was a caravansary, there used to be places to house the camels and the people.  To ensure security, the bazaar was closed at night. 

Zincirli Han

Zincirli Han

There are many hans, multi-storey buildings surrounding an inner courtyard.  The lower floor would be for animals.  In the middle of the coral-coloured Zincirli Han is a courtyard with a marble fountain for washing.  This han specialized used to specialize in chains, zincir. Today it houses down-to-earth jewelry shops and we did not get hassled while in this han.

3,000+Shops

 

Elegant Boutique



The Grand Bazaar is an overwhelming patchwork of 3,000+ simple shops and elegantly decorated boutiques.  We generally followed the self-guided tour in Rick Steve's book.  There are some signs hanging from the arched roof above you at major intersections but it’s good to get off the main streets.  Make sure you go off the main streets into the side alleys and courtyards. There were amazing things to see – glinting gold, shiny silver, and suave silks.  I cannot see any Turkish woman wearily such slinky dresses, at least not in public. 



Colourful Lights



The photos show three of our favourite shops. The classic multi-coloured lamps made of glass can be seen throughout Turkey. In fact, many hotels and restaurants use them for decorative lighting.  Because Islam forbade images in the mosques, artists excelled in calligraphy and geometric motifs.

Exquisite Pottery

There is a lot of overpriced pottery for the tourists.  One store in the north part of the bazaar was spectacular. While the prices were high - especially for the large vases and other pieces – the quality was very high as well.  

Ottoman Dress

Another shop had incredible Ottoman clothing, supposedly antique. We were skeptical until the owner said the display robes were not for sale. Nevertheless, it was hard to believe that the displayed clothes were that old, given their great condition. 

Ottoman Clothing

In 2014, it was the most-visited tourist attraction in the world with 91,250,000 visitors – that’s an average of 250,000 shoppers each day!

Last Post: İncekaya High

Next Post: Basilica Cistern & Superstitious Romans

Incekaya Aqueduct

İncekaya High

Incekaya Aqueduct

Sweet Safranbolu

It’s time to bid farewell to Sweet Safranbolu and return to Istanbul.  As it’s also time to give up the rental car – you don’t want to drive in an 18 million person city – what could we do to take advantage of having a car today? 



Iznik Tiles, Topkapi Palace

 

 

 

One possibility was to visit İznik with its famous historical tiles.  It’s the only city that is still enclosed by 5 km of 10 m high, original Roman wall.  But it is a considerable distance west of Safranbolu as well as south off the main highway.  Moreover, it probably needed more time than we had.  So we opted for the İncekaya area close by our guest house. 


Raşitler Bağ Evi

Breakfast Nook

What better way to start the morning than to spend a relaxing time eating a great breakfast at our Raşitler Bağ Evi pension. 

We talked about the changes in Turkey over the last 30 years; the conflict of values between the young urbanites and their conservative countrymen; the contrast of clothes between jeans and niqabs. 



Bağlar Bounty

All the while, we enjoyed an omelet with yummy olives, scrumptious white cheese, tomatoes, and toast topped with delicious homemade jams and addicting Turkish coffee.    

    
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İncekaya Aqueduct

Bağlar Beauty

After breakfast we got lost by heading northwest along the edge of the mountain.  There were pleasant views but eventually the road came to an end.  On the other hand there were Ottoman houses to see along the way. 



Incekaya Aqueduct



 We doubled back and figured we had to head northeast (left) once we got to İncekaya Caddesi – that makes sense, follow the road with the same name. 

 

After passing through the village of İncekaya, we ignored the first sign for pay parking and were able to drive right up to the viewpoint (no charge).  This may be because it is low season. 
 

 

Incekaya Aqueduct

Suddenly there are dramatic views from the overhanging platform of 60 m high, arched aqueduct.  It looks as good as new but dates from Byzantine times.  Okay, it was restored in the 1790s by İzzet Mehmet Paşa, who was grand vizier (prime minister). 

Tokatlı Canyon

There is no public transport to the aqueduct (7 km from the centre of town) so without your own car you will either have to arrange a tour or taxi from Safranbolu.  One possibility is to hike back to Safranbolu. 

Looking down the stairs is 2 km hiking trail through Tokatlı Canyon.  We had the place all to ourselves.  After a short walk in this natural park since it was time to hit the road to Istanbul. 

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Last Post:  Yörük - Ottoman Time Warp

Next Post: Grand Bazaar – Gigantic!





Yoruk

Ottoman Obsession

Ottoman Time Warp

Yörük Köyü is a priceless village ten kilometers east of Safranbolu.  Köyü means village.  I would like to say Yörük is magically hidden from the main road but that would be a fairy tale.  What is real is that you travel back in time to a village that is wall-to-wall Ottoman houses in stately decay.  At first you think nothing has changed. Then you notice the satellite dishes.

The name Yörük means “walkers”, which is very appropriates since it was populated by Turkish nomads who migrated west from the Central Asian homeland over centuries. 

Now as we near the end of our trip, it is time to review some of the significant facts about how the Turkey has affected the whole world.

  

Turkish Impact

    

Main Street

The Turks were nomadic, warrior tribes that invented pants, which were better suited to a horse riding culture.  They migrated west into Persia and introduced trousers to Persian culture. At the Istanbul Archaeology Museums we saw a freeze with tunic wearing Greeks under Alexander the Great.  At first, the Greeks derided pants worn by the Persians.  After Alexander conquered Persia, he promoted Persian clothes and culture.  New ideas were spread back to the west.  Today, pants have won out!  The Turks score another impact.

The Greek conquest had a long lasting influence on Turkey, providing many of the tourist sights of today -- not to forget the large Greek population until 1923.  The reason for the central role of Turkey is that Istanbul and Ephesus served as the terminus of the Silk Trade Routes.  That was a major impact! 

Not Topkapi Palace



In the Topkapi Palace Paradise post we discovered that the Turks are not from Turkey.  They came from the Central Asia.  The Turks are believed to have originated from the Xiongnu, also known as the "Northern Barbarians" – the bane of the Han Dynasty and cause for the Great Wall! 

  

 

Narrow Side Street

Western Turkish is part of the Turkic language group. This includes 110 million people — Azeri, Turkmen, Kazakh, Tartar, and Uzbek — who originated from Central Asia.  Even Japanese and Korean, Finnish and Hungarian are distantly related to the Turkic languages.



Ottoman Ceiling Tile

The Turks migrated west and conquered Anatolia from the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire.  Then they conquered the only part of the empire that was left, Constantinople, in 1453.  Greek and Roman scholars and their books emigrated from the centre of Ancient Greek and Roman learning.  This in turn accelerated the Renaissance in the West.

 

   

Dusk in Yörük

After  the   Turks   conquered Constantinople in 1453, their dynasty became known as the Ottomans (Osman in Turkish) and ruled for 624 years.  This huge empire had a profound effect on all their territories from Baghdad to Budapest and from Mecca to Algiers.  However, Ottoman control of the Silk Roads led Europeans to search for new routes to the Far East.  This led to improvements in naval power and navigation, the discovery of America and the path to Asia, not to mention the conquest of most of the world.  Major impact! 

  

End of Day

There are very few locals today but it is winter and apparently the people work elsewhere and only come here in the summer.   So Yörük is fitting name for a nomadic people that are still "walking around".  In the past, they moved seasonally with their flocks of sheep and goats to take advantage of better pasture.  Today they use trucks to move animals between pastures. 

 

Last Post:  Safranbolu Ottoman Obsession

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