Eat your way through the Spice Bazaar and Eminönü
The Egyptian Bazaar has been trading since 1664, and the streets behind it are where Istanbul actually shops. The market is the start of the walk, not the end of it.
The Spice Bazaar was built as part of the New Mosque complex, its rents funding the mosque — hence the L-shaped hall of eighty-odd vaulted shops. The name in Turkish, Mısır Çarşısı, refers to Egypt, from where much of the spice trade arrived.
The better eating is in the lanes around it. Fish sandwiches off the boats at Eminönü; pickle juice from the turşucu next door; coffee roasted at Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi, where the queue has been forming since 1871; a hundred kinds of Turkish delight and pistachio baklava sold by weight.
A guide who buys here is worth having, because they know which stalls sell saffron and which sell safflower dyed to look like it, and they will get you past the display fronts into the shops locals actually use.
Good to Know
Availability, exact timings and pricing depend on your itinerary, hotel and season — your Finders & Keepers Safaris specialist will confirm details and slot this experience into your existing day-by-day plan.
Come hungry, and pace yourself
The temptation is to fill up at the first stall; the best thing is almost never the first thing. Haggling is expected in the bazaar and not in the shops behind it. Sunday is busiest with local crowds, and the market closes for religious holidays. Anything sold as saffron at a low price is not saffron.