Going to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul

Inside the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul

Inside the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul

Like most of my trips, I don’t really plan my trips that much anymore. I pick a handful of places to visit and just play it by ear. I am in the city of Istanbul. I first had a quick lunch at the area around the hotel and started my visit there. It was twelve noon and it was very hot. It was good that the streets are narrow and there is plenty of shelter from the sun but it was still hot. Apparently, I was near the Great Bazaar. I was looking around the area and thought that it was very similar to places I have been to which are commercial in nature. I’m not talking about shopping, but this is more for stuff that people would need in their house. It was more like an area for trading than shopping. I could imagine that people would come here to purchase stuff and then sell them elsewhere.

Alley Inside the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul

Alley Inside the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul

You could imagine my disappointment when I saw how un-great the Great Bazaar is and how it turned out to be just a wholesalers area. Despite this initial disappointment, I continued on. I thought that even if the Great Bazaar was disappointing, I knew that there were still places beyond it that are worth visiting. It was actually hard to get my bearings here since it almost felt like a maze with all these narrow streets. Fortunately, at least Google has got the place mapped and at least I was pointing the correct way.

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