In doing my research on Istanbul two of the top things to see were the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market. I also had read that the Grand Bazaar is so large that is very helpful to have a tour guide take you around. Ken was not super excited about going to the Grand Bazaar I think he thought it was going to be a giant flea market he also had a hard time understanding why we need a guide to walk around a market.
Well… the GB is huge we were there for five hours and we probably saw maybe 20% of the market. It also has an amazing variety of things for sale there was an entire section with probably 50 stores just devoted to weddings there were stores for bridal gowns, stores for bridesmaids dresses and stores for accessories. The GB also had many very high-end stores with beautiful leather goods, furs, jewelry and silk scarves. Those of you who know me know I LOVE to shop and can shop for hours on end. We had planned to spend three hours at both markets and we spent five hours at the GB alone. If I ever go back to Turkey I will plan to spend two or three days at the Grand Bazaar. We had one suitcase that was just things we bought at the Grand Bazaar.
After Ken and our wonderful guide Mine dragged me out of the Grand Bazaar, and I mean literally dragged me out, we went to the beautiful Spice Market. The SM was similar to the GB in that it was a large semi enclosed shopping area made up of many smaller stalls and shops. But the Spice Market was all about food, candy, oils and of course spices. The smells and the colors were so beautiful. We bought some delicious Turkish pistachios which taste different than our pistachios, and teas and spices that we are still using.
We had such a fun day at both of these markets and then our guide Mine took us to the oldest restaurant at the GB which was really charming for a delicious late lunch. One of the fun facts about the GB was that when Istanbul shut down for Covid everything was shut down except for the Grand Bazaar. Mine told us that the GB is such a big part of daily life in Istanbul that they could not close it.
We always try to take a food tour in a new city we find it a great way to orient ourselves to the city and to see what's available for restaurants. We had a delicious food tour with our lovely guide Ugur (WithLocals). Turkish food tends to be rich and savory, they also love their meats and have wonderful roasted beef and lamb.
They do not serve pork for religious reasons but there is plenty to eat and the Turks love food. Kebabs are very popular here as well as meat pizzas which are different than Italian pizzas, the Turkish pizzas are basically gravy on a piece of pita bread with chopped meat on top. We had so much food on the tour we couldn't eat it all and then of course we ended the tour with a Turkish coffee and baklava.
We went to some beautiful restaurants when we were in Istanbul it's quite a cosmopolitan city and the food was very good. One of our favorite restaurants was a neighborhood kebab restaurant which was full of locals I think we were the only tourists. It was quite lively and fun and they just kept bringing us different kinds of food. We went to a few fine dining restaurants which were lovely and had very traditional service with waiters in tuxedos hovering over you at all times. Istanbul has a unique vibe, a little different than other big European cities but we had a wonderful time there and would definitely go back.
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