by Lufthansa Flyer | Jul 6, 2012 | Trip Reports |
A visit to Istanbul (especially if it’s your first time) is not complete without a few mandatory stops. The Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet), Grand Bazaar, Topkapi Palace are usually high on the list of most visitors and a visit to the Spice Bazaar has a place on this list as well.
On our trip to Istanbul, one of the things we were most looking forward to was the visit to the Spice Market. My wife and I both enjoy cooking and the ability to sample some of the world’s finest, and in some cases rarest, spices and herbs was something we could not pass up. We would not be disappointed!
The Bazaar itself dates back to the late 16th century when it was first part of the Yeni Mosque. At the time, the building that houses the current bazaar hosted a variety of shops who’s revenues went to support the costs of maintaining the Mosque. In it’s earliest days, the Bazaar was referred to as the “Egyptian Bazaar” apparently because the funding of the construction had come from Egypt.
Today the Spice Bazaar is home to 88 shops, most of whom sell spices, herbs, caviar and Turkish baked goods including their famous “Turkish Delight”. Other shops sell typical “tourist souvenir” fare for those interested in finding something to take home as a momento of their visit.
The Bazaar is a T-Shape building and is near the Galata bridge and only a short walk from the Grand Bazaar, The Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace. Surrounding the Bazaar are streets and alleys that are lined with additional shops. These shops tended to focus on apparel and housewares (pots, pans, etc) but are worth a look as well. There are many great food options around the bazaar, with most being small restaurants and food stands with room for only a few customers.
Thanks to Milepoint member “From NYC”, we were able to narrow down our shopping to a specific Spice Shop that he had visited on his trip to Istanbul. His recommendation was spot on and we stock up on many different spices (several that we’ve never heard of before!). The name of the shop is Ucuzucar and the shop is located at location #51 in side the Bazaar. Should you find yourself in the Spice Bazaar one day, I would highly recommend them. They took all the time that we needed to sort out the kind of spices we were looking for and all of their recommendations were spot on. They offered discounts based on the amount we purchased and even gave us a few pounds of Turkish Delight as a gesture of thanks. Can’t say enough great things about our experience with them!!
I would recommend that you plan 1-2 hours for a visit to the Bazaar. If you are the kind of shopper that likes to stop at every vendor, you may need to double that number. Most of the spice shops have their items neatly arranged in front of their shop with most having their spices shaped as pyramids. Most of the shops we visited were staffed by very friendly people who were offering free tastes of any spice that would interest us. It actually made for a very pleasant shopping experience.
Images from the Spice Bazaar:
One of the three corridors inside the Bazaar
Most shops were very interesting to visit. Great curb appeal!
Variety was at times overwhelming. But thats a good thing in this case!
A typical Spice Shop
Ucuzucar Spice Shop (#51)
No shortage of shopping opportunities
One of the alleys lining near the Bazaar - More shopping opportunities!
This is only part of a much larger trip report covering the trip to Istanbul and London. If you would like to be informed of future trip reports, please follow me on twitter: @lufthansaflyer.
Here is the current “index” of the trip report. The one’s with hyperlinks have already been completed:
Lufthansa First Class Services from Chicago to Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Lounge in Frankfurt
Istanbul – Sultan Ahmed (Sultanahmet) Mosque.
Istanbul – The Basilica Cistern.
Istanbul – The Grand Bazaar
Istanbul – The Spice Market
Istanbul – Park Hyatt Macka Palas.
Istanbul – Our Day with Ihsan (besttaxidriver.com).
Istanbul – Hagia Sophia.
Istanbul – Other Mosques and Churches.
Istanbul – I find out what Zultanite is….
Istanbul – The Food We Found.
Istanbul – Turkish Airlines’ International CIP Lounge.
London – Hyatt Andaz Liverpool Street.
London – Opening of Parliament – Great pictures of the Queen and procession to Parliament.
London – ‘The Sunshine Boys’ at the Savoy Theater (Danny DeVito and Richard Griffiths)…..BRILLIANT, MUST SEE!
London – Spitalfield’s Antique Market – And the lesson I learned.
London – Churchill War Rooms and Churchill Museum.
London – Photos from around town.
London – Dinner at Petrus
London – St. James Park: Feathers and Fur
London – Covent Gardens.
London – All the other things that I can’t think of at the moment….
Pluckley – They said it was haunted……
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jun 30, 2012 | Trip Reports |
A visit to Istanbul is not complete unless one spends some time walking through the streets of the Grand Bazaar. Dating back to 1455, the Bazaar is among the oldest marketplaces in the world, and attracts upwards of 400,000 visitors a year. During our visit to Istanbul, we obviously wanted to visit this historic landmark, and take it in for ourselves.
The Bazaar is very large as 3,000 shops are spread over 61 covered streets. Additionally there are several “uncovered” streets surrounding the covered portion of the bazaar that offer additional shopping opportunities in case the 3,000 shops inside the Bazaar are not enough.
The Bazaar is certainly quite the destination. Rows and rows of shops peddling everything from jewelery, clothing, housewares, antiques and typical tourist souvenirs dominate the landscape. My wife did strike gold when she found several gemstones at ridiculously good prices. Fortunately her purchases were authenticated when we returned and it was confirmed that the stones were authentic (I had my doubts considering the prices we paid).
Otherwise, to be perfectly honest, I was not overly impressed with the covered portion of the Bazaar. After about 15 minutes, I was able to figure out the pattern of the things that were sold and there was a lot of repetition. Dozens upon dozens of shops sold the identical items and I suspect the difference would be in prices and negotiating skills of the shop-keepers. After walking up and down 2 or 3 streets, they began to all look the same and my interest waned. Fortunately (or not!), my wife had enough interest for the both of us and being the dutiful husband that I am, I marched on…..
Here are some scenes from the Grand Bazaar:
One of the entrances to the Bazaar
Another of the many entrances
My first view once inside the expansive Bazaar
Ornate tile and architecture was evident throughout
Further examples of the tile work
Scenes from the “streets” within the Bazaar:
After walking through most of the Bazaar, we turned our attention to the streets surrounding the Grand Bazaar. What I noticed was that most of the shops outside the Bazaar were far more interesting and diverse than the shops within the Bazaar. If you do visit the Grand Bazaar, please make sure to take time and wander the streets, you will not be disappointed. I also noticed far more “locals” shopping in these shops, which told me quite a bit about where the best deals may actually be.
The streets were full of people but I never felt that I was in a crowd. Apparel and housewares dominated most of the offerings, but the variety was far better than what I saw inside the Bazaar. Scarves and headwear especially dominated the Women’s apparel options. My wife stocked up on Pashminas for friends and family and found great deals everywhere she looked!
Speaking of variety, look what must have specially arranged just for my visit:
Right there in front of me.......
Yes, that is a Lufthansa A380 Beach Towel. Out of all the items in all the shops, this towel was perhaps the most western, non-turkish item I would see in the Bazaar. What are the odds! 🙂 However I suspect that it was not an officially licensed product of Lufthansa nor Airbus.
The streets were full of active shoppers and shops offered ample opportunities for them:
In all, I ultimately wound up enjoy myself at the Bazaar, but primarily because of the shops on the outside. Having a sunny and cool day along with wafts of great smelling food filling the air made it a great time. All of the shopkeepers that we spoke with were very friendly and helpful and enjoyed the “negotiations” to arrive at the best price for everyone involved.
Ultimately, I recommend that you visit the Grand Bazaar because it is a historic part of Istanbul, but please take my word for it, and spend time wandering the streets surrounding the Bazaar. That’s where I found it to be the most enjoyable!
This is only part of a much larger trip report covering the trip to Istanbul and London. If you would like to be informed of future trip reports, please follow me on twitter: @lufthansaflyer.
Here is the current “index” of the trip report. The one’s with hyperlinks have already been completed:
Lufthansa First Class Services from Chicago to Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Lounge in Frankfurt
Istanbul – Sultan Ahmed (Sultanahmet) Mosque.
Istanbul – The Basilica Cistern.
Istanbul – Spice Market and Grand Bazaar.
Istanbul – Park Hyatt Macka Palas.
Istanbul – Our Day with Ihsan (besttaxidriver.com).
Istanbul – Hagia Sophia.
Istanbul – Other Mosques and Churches.
Istanbul – I find out what Zultanite is….
Istanbul – The Food We Found.
Istanbul – Turkish Airlines’ International CIP Lounge.
London – Hyatt Andaz Liverpool Street.
London – Opening of Parliament – Great pictures of the Queen and procession to Parliament.
London – ‘The Sunshine Boys’ at the Savoy Theater (Danny DeVito and Richard Griffiths)…..BRILLIANT, MUST SEE!
London – Spitalfield’s Antique Market – And the lesson I learned.
London – Churchill War Rooms and Churchill Museum.
London – Photos from around town.
London – Dinner at Petrus
London – St. James Park: Feathers and Fur
London – Covent Gardens.
London – All the other things that I can’t think of at the moment….
Pluckley – They said it was haunted……
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jun 25, 2012 | Trip Reports |
Click on map to enlarge
According to a Wikipedia entry, St. James Park is the oldest of all the Royal Parks of London and has it’s origins go back to 1532 when Henry VIII bought the land (a marsh at the time) from Eton College. In 1603, when James I was king, he drained the marsh so that the land can become a home to his camels, elephants and crocodiles. I never realized that camels, elephants and crocodiles are indigenous to England. 🙂
For some reason the camels and elephants were not roaming the park when we were there, nor did we see any crocodiles patrolling the waters. What we did find was a collection of wonderful birds and squirrels who had no shame. This was the first time that I had visited St. James’ Park and I was surprised by how a park like this can survive and thrive in the middle of London. When walking through the park, it was often difficult to see the city that surrounds it so that may have something to do with the park’s success.
There’s not much else to write about regarding the park so I’ll let the photos provide the “rest of the story”:
One of the first residents of the park that we came upon was a duck that would not leave us alone. He would stalk us until we fed him something. Fortunately my wife had crackers with her, so we were able to appease the duck:
There was no getting past her.......
A duck with an attitude......
No doubt she was poised to attack if not fed.......
Once we satisfied the duck and continued our walk through the park (give yourself at least an hour or 2 in order to truly appreciate it), we found it full of a wide variety of birds. Mostly water fowl including ducks and pelicans:
Pelican enjoying a drink
Pelicans resting between meals
A variety of other birds:
They had no interest at the attention they were getting.....
Simply unique!
Unique and colorful ducks
Herons were abundant
One beautiful bird after another
Perhaps the most colorful specimen in the park
.....and her chicks.
Our other ‘interactive” encounter came from a furry resident of the park. The only animal that I think out numbered the ducks was the squirrel. They were EVERYWHERE. They had no shame and would regularly stalk people expecting some sort of handout. On several occasions we witnessed someone putting food on their shoulder, only to have the squirrel climb up and get their snack. They had no fear whatsoever. Our encounter would be similar, expect for the part of allowing a quasi-rodent to climb up on us. The squirrel that “chose” us simply liked to be photographed….hoping he’d hit the Big Time:
Waiting for the unsuspecting passerby....
Hey, can you spare a nut?
I was able to take this picture 12 inches away.
Getting ready to take our offering
A little blurry because he caught us by surprise.....
I have to admit, the walk in the park was a great break from the sight seeing. Earlier that morning we had observed the Queen’s Procession to Parliament and then had gone to the Churchill War Rooms, so a break was in order. As I mentioned earlier, the park is adjacent to other attractions in the area:
Preparations for the Queen's Jubilee at Buckingham Palace
A view towards the Treasury, Churchill War Rooms and other Government buildings.
St. James’ Park is closed to traffic so it is relatively quiet and easy to navigate with paths that are laid out throughout the park. If you ever find yourself in London and are running around seeing all the sites that you are “supposed” to see, take a break for an hour or 2, bring some crackers with you and enjoy this fantastic park!
This is only part of a much larger trip report covering the trip to Istanbul and London. If you would like to be informed of future trip reports, please follow me on twitter: @lufthansaflyer.
Here is the current “index” of the trip report. The one’s with hyperlinks have already been completed:
Lufthansa First Class Services from Chicago to Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Lounge in Frankfurt
Istanbul – Sultan Ahmed (Sultanahmet) Mosque.
Istanbul – The Basilica Cistern.
Istanbul – Spice Market and Grand Bazaar.
Istanbul – Park Hyatt Macka Palas.
Istanbul – Our Day with Ihsan (besttaxidriver.com).
Istanbul – Hagia Sophia.
Istanbul – Other Mosques and Churches.
Istanbul – I find out what Zultanite is….
Istanbul – The Food We Found.
Istanbul – Turkish Airlines’ International CIP Lounge.
London – Hyatt Andaz Liverpool Street.
London – Opening of Parliament – Great pictures of the Queen and procession to Parliament.
London – ‘The Sunshine Boys’ at the Savoy Theater (Danny DeVito and Richard Griffiths)…..BRILLIANT, MUST SEE!
London – Spitalfield’s Antique Market – And the lesson I learned.
London – Churchill War Rooms and Churchill Museum.
London – Photos from around town.
London – Dinner at Petrus
London – St. James Park. Very friendly squirrels and ducks.
London – Covent Gardens.
London – All the other things that I can’t think of at the moment….
Pluckley – They said it was haunted……
A visit to Istanbul (especially if it’s your first time) is not complete without a few mandatory stops. The Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet), Grand Bazaar, Topkapi Palace are usually high on the list of most visitors and a visit to the Spice Bazaar has a place on this list as well.
