With the decline of the trade many have not survived to this day, although the larger ones are still flourishing. The oldest fish markets are in Eminonu and Beyoglu/Galatasaray. Others can be found in Besiktas, Kumkapı and Sarıyer.
SAHAFLAR CARSISI (SECOND HAND-BOOK BAZAAR)
Sahaflar Carsısı, the Second-hand Book Bazaar, nestles in an ancient, courtyard between the Bayezid Mosque and Fesciler entrance to the Covered Bazaar. One of Istanbul's oldest markets, the Bazaar is built on the same site as the Chartoprateia, which used to be the book and paper market of Byzantium. However, it was only at the end of the 18th century that booksellers began to migrate across from the Covered Bazaar and set up shop in the courtyard. Printing and publishing legislation introduced soon after enabled the trade to expand in a major way and take over the entire market, which from then on became known as the Sahaflar Carsısı. Well into this century the market remained a focal point for the sale and distribution of books within the Ottoman Empire, as well as a gathering spot for Istanbul's intellectual and literary circles. However, over the last half century or so, the market has lost much of its significance with the inevitable proliferation of modern bookstores acoss the city. All the same, tattered ancient volumes are still to be found beside the gleaming new editions.
The Bazaar is open daily except Sundays and public holidays, when the main stores are closed. The smaller stores, however, tend to open every day.
LOCAL OPEN MARKETS
Almost every neighborhood of Istanbul has its own open market on a set day of the week. An integral part of Istanbul culture, market day is both a social and commercial event and one that brims with colour and life. Stalls are piled high with seasonal fruits and vegetables, hardware, household gadgets, knicknacks, clothing, and textiles. Stallholders advertise their wares garrulously to the passing crowds, customers bargain mercilessly for a good price.
The markets themselves are generally known either by the name of the neighborhood, or by the day of the week on which they are held. Hence, Carsamba Pazarı (Wednesday Market), is the name of the market held in the Carsamba quarter of Fatih on a Wednesday. This is one of Istanbul's oldest and most well-known markets and vies for size with the Sali Pazari (Tuesday Market) in Kadikoy, over on the Asian shore. Others of not include the Saturday market in Besiktas, and Ulus Pazari, one of the newest markets, which happens on a Thursday.
As well as the weekly markets, Istanbul has a number of permanent and seasonal markets. The Cicek Pazarı (Flower Market), for instance, is located beside the Spice Bazaar in Eminonu and sells everything from seeds, pot plants, and shrubs to pets, leeches, and ducklings. The market trades seven days a week throughout the year. Further away from the centre at Topkapı is the Koc Pazarı (Ram Market), where sacrificial animals are sold, but only in the weeks leading up to Kurban Bayramı (the Feast of the Sacrifice). Another seasonal market is the Gül Pazarı (Rose Market) in Eyup Square, Yavedud. Held exculusively during the rose season, the market is a good place to buy other flower varieties, besides just roses.
TEA AND TURKISH TEA SHOPS
As Turkey's national drink, tea is consumed on a grand scale in Istanbul. Throughout the day, tea-men do the round of commercial centres, public institutions and offices, swinging their tea trays. Although newly-opened cafes and patisseries have begun to use cups, tea is traditionally, and still more often than not, drink from delicate, tulip-shaped glasses. It is also common to find tea served from samovars in many family tea gardens.
TURKISH COFFEE SHOPS
Surprisingly, perhaps, Turkish coffee has never been as widely consumed by the Turks as tea. All the same, and despite now competition from instant cofeee brands, it remains an institution in itself and is offered as a matter of course to visitors both at home and at work. Prepared from finely ground beans and heated rapidly in a special pot, the coffee is served in tiny cups either without sugar, medium-sweet or very sweet. The dregs left at the bottom are a customary source for fortune-telling.
WATER-PIPES (NARGILE)
Until only recently, the nargile (hookah) was frequently encountered in the cafes and tea houses of İstanbul, where smokers huddled over their pipes to pass the time of day. Although a rarity today, the diehard are still to be found at historic meeting places within the city walls. A typical example is the nargile cafe within the Corlulu Ali Pasha Kulliyesi on Divanyolu.
ISTANBUL: A SHOPPING PARADISE
They come with empty bags and plenty of cash. Arriving in planes, buses, cars and boats from east, west, south and north. They leave draped in gold and jewels, luggage bulging with assorted trinkets, delicacies and fine garments. Some are travelling merchants, many are tourists, others are businessmen or diplomats, but they all shop, shop, shop - for bargains.
The Americans and western Europeans come in search of oriental carpets and brassware. The Eastern Europeans and Central Asians buy fashionable clothes and accessories with chic western brands and labels. The Israelis prefer artistically designed gold jevellery studded with gems. Turkish leather goods are popular with all. The Russian "bag traders" leave with baggage trains that fill whole buses, packed full with merchant's cargo of everything from ladies nylons to automotive spare parts!
Considering that İstanbul has been a major trading center of the Eastern Hemisphere for far more than two thousand years, it should come as no surprise that the vast variety of merchandise available should continue to attract traders and shoppers alike. You may wonder why anyone would seek to find Chinese, Indian. European and American products here. And those of us who have found what we are looking for, may sometimes pause momentarily to wonder how it is that we managed to pay such cheap prices -usually far cheaper than in our own country- until our attention is diverted to yet another bargain. Perhaps a Lacoste sports shirt, a Louis Vuitton purse, and Akai Sound system, an Anatolian Kilim Carpet, brass and copperware or even a Russian electron microscope. Yes there is certainly a lot of choice, everything from fashionable western brands sold in the swank shops of Nisantası, to Russian black market goods sold in the Sunday markets in Bayezit. And of course, the un-imaginable variety of curios, parapharnelia, and commercial goods sold in Eminonu's labyrinth of black streets, which by no coincidence comprised the heart of the Byzantine commercial district of old Constantinople.
ALL FAMOUS BRANDS OF THE WORLD
As you might expect in a city with a reputation as a fashion center, İstanbul has the chic and fashionable shopping precincts, rich with the sought after status symbols of the glamorous society elite. In Nişantaşı, Teşvikiye, and Kadıkoy; on Rumeli Caddesi, Osmanbey, and Bagdat Caddesi; in the modern shopping malls at Akmerkez and the Ataköy Galeria; every cherished and coveted designer label and brand of distinction can be found. Congruent with an affluent, refined and elegant social scene, İstanbul offers at least as much as, if not more, in the way of fashionable and stylish shoping choices than any other major European fashion center. And the prices are often better, which is because so much of the designer merchandise sold elsewhere in Europe is actually manufactured in Turkey! Istanbul is a well known destination for Europeans, coming simply to buy famous brands at bargain prices.
ART OF JEWELRY IN ISTANBUL |
