Istanbul has always been an important city throughout the history. Located on the crossroads of trade routes, it surely enjoyed a great deal of international attention and its economy has always grown up. Since the beginning of the settlement here, commerce was heavily practiced and bazaars were filled with all kinds of items, buyers and sellers from everywhere. This commercial activity has left its mark on the city with its old bazaars, and today the tradition of shopping continues with many old and modern malls in this great city.
In this respect the Eminonu area was a major center, however even in early republice years karakoy and Eminonu were full of local merchants and was a trade center. You can see the remaining tracks of these shops and merchant in Persembe Pazari ( Thursday Bazaar) in Karakoy. The Spice Bazaar or The Egyptian Bazaar as locals named it was one of the major trade center of these days for the oriental products.
Egyptian Bazaar
The Egyptian Bazaar (Misir Carsisi in Turkish) is also known as Spice Market. It's located just behind the Yeni Mosque at Eminonu neighborhood, at the entrance of the Golden Horn. The Bazaar was originally made of wood in mid-17th century by the architect Kazim Aga, and got its final restorations during mid-forties. The name comes from the fact that Egyptians used to sell their spices here and that it once received income from taxes levied on Egypt. Instead the English name comes from the days when the Bazaar was specialized on selling spices and herbs, medicinal plants and drugs. Lately, there are also shops selling stuff other than spices but you can still see and smell many interesting spices, dried fruits and nuts, teas, oils and essences, sweets, honeycombs, and aphrodisiacs.
The Spice Market has 86 shops inside. Outside there is a plant market on one side and a food market on the other. There are 6 gates of the L-shaped Bazaar. The ceiling is higher respect to Grand Bazaar, and this is also covered with domes.
The Egyptian Bazaar is open daily between 09:00-19.00 except on Sundays and during public or religious holidays. But during summer period of 2009 it will stay open on Sundays too, between 10:00-19:00.
Do not forget to pay a visit to New Mosque. The entrance for the mosque is literally next to the Bazaar. Enjoy your stay.
Very nice. I love to read about one of my favorite cities in the world which I visit often.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much my first commentator.
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