Spice Bazaar (or Egyptian Bazaar) is known as the busiest place of Eminönü which is located behind Istanbul New Mosque. There is Flower Market near the bazaar and a big part of shops in bazaar are spice-seller.
When you come in, you can feel the smell of these spices which are wrapped around every corner of the bazaar. In the bazaar, you can easily find many products from jewellery to dowry, from souvenir to wear. In short, it can meet almost all your needs.
The reason why the bazaar called the Egyptian Bazaar was the best-selling place of the goods that had been brought from Egypt in the past. The bazaar is also known with many different names. The most famous of these are the Valide Bazaar and the New Bazaar.
Information About Spice Bazaar
To give a brief information about the features of Spice Bazaar; the bazaar is “L” shaped and there are six doors in there. The area at the Haseki gate has a two-storey structure and its top floor was used as court parts in the past. In here, the relationships between craftsmen and the problems between people and craftsmen were solved.
The most important place of the bazaar is undoubtedly “Dua Square“. There is also azan pavilion right here. It’s not very impressive, but you can take a look at it when you’re in the bazaar. The Spice Bazaar has survived two major fires until today.
One of them was in 1691 and the other was in 1940. But after the fire in 1940, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality made a great restoration work and the shape of today’s bazaar was formed after this restoration. Although it is smaller than the Grand Bazaar, we can say that the Spice Bazaar is a place more preferred by tourists.
History of Spice Bazaar
To give brief information about the history of Spice Bazaar, it was built by IV. Mehmet‘s mother Hatice Turhan Sultan in 1660 and its architect was Kasım Aga. Another name mentioned in the construction of the bazaar is Architect Mustafa Aga.
It is said that rubble stone, cut stone and bricks are used in the construction of the bazaar. On the other hand, the vault is built in a very large structure. There are 86 shops in the bazaar.
Once upon a time, in the bazaar, where antique shops were much more than the other shops, craftsmen got used to tourists. Most of the salesclerks and shop owners can speak Russian and Arabic very nicely as well as English. What I like most in bazaar, you can tour as you like. So the craftsmen in front of the shops do not get hold of you to sell something.
Even though mostly there are spice shops, you can find many products at affordable price that you might think of. The names of the gates in the bazaar are Eminönü, Tahtakale, Flower Market, New Mosque and Haseki.
You do not have to look for a restaurant in a different place when you are hungry. In the bazaar, you can find many kinds of food such as kebab, döner, pide.
The most popular products of the bazaar are weight loss herbal teas or herbs. You can see a crowd of women getting information in front of the shops. Although these weight loss herbs attract women’s attention more, it is possible to see many men in front of these shops.
Ironically, %99 of the craftsmen are fat who are shouting “Fatness will end” “Come and lose 5-10 kg weight in a week.”
Where is The Spice Bazaar And How To Go There?
You can get off at Eminönü tram stop using Bağcılar-Kabataş tramline to get to this bazaar located in Eminönü. It is possible to reach this bazaar in 2 minutes by foot.
If you are trying to reach the bazaar from the Blue Mosque, Topkapı Palace or Hagia Sophia Museum, you do not need to use tram. You can easily reach the bazaar from here by walking for 10 minutes.
Sura Hotels are located in unique location. You can reach Spice Bazaar from Sura Hotels by walking for 10 minutes.
