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The Grand Bazaar (Kapalicarsi in Turkish) is one of the the largest covered markets in the world with its 4400 shops, 3000 firms, some 17 hans (separate inns for specific type of products), 64 streets,25.000 employees, 4 fountains, 2 mosques and 22 gates. It's a real heaven for shoppers and a good opportunity for people to discover the Turkish hospitality. It looks like a labyrinth at first sight but it's actually not that complicated. All you have to do is to keep your eyes on the main street (Kalpakcilarbasi Street, the jewelry street). The Bazaar was first constructed in 1464 with the order of Mehmed II 'the Conqueror' and had many restorations over the years due to the extensive fires and destructive earthquakes. There are tens of cafes, a police station, little mosques, tourists information points in the bazaar.

There are thousands of things you can find and purchase in the Grand Bazaar. The gate that one usually enters into the bazaar is called "Nuruosmaniye Gate" that means "the light of the Ottomans". That takes you directly to a shining street full of jewelry stores. Jewelry is one of the things could be purchased. Gold prices are not low but due to the lower workmanship costs, you may find a huge variety of gold, precious stones and semi precious stones like sapphire, ruby or emeralds at reasonable prices. Bargaining is always possible. Before you purchase, it's recommended to ask more than 3-4 shops so that you can get the best price. The main street goes all the way up till the other exit and it's all full of jewelry stores....

Another item which is important to our culture is carpets. When you're walking on the streets in the Bazaar, some people might approach you and invite you to see their collections of carpets. They are commission-men and if you like them you can go to the shops they mention but you may also reject them. They seem insistent but if you don't care about them, they go away. Carpet shops are usually spread out to smaller parallel streets and the purchasing decision is usually very hard. When you walk into a carpet shop, you're first offered coffee, tea or coke without any obligation of buying usually with a warm smile. The carpets are from several different regions of Turkey and the salesman tells about them one by one starting from less quality ones to higher quality (higher price of course!) ones. Bartering with them is a real fun!

Other than those of higher value items, there are good leather shops in the Bazaar. Leather could be found in a han on the left hand side of the main street called "Leather Goods Section". There are also good ceramic items, wall plates and good tile plates. You may also find silverware, copperware, fake brand t-shirts like Tommy Hilfiger as well as good Istanbul or Turkey t-shirts all around the bazaar. There are also belly-dancers costumes and traditional folkloric costumes. As you walk into deeper sides of the bazaar, you may explore heavens of religious icons, antique or used watches or old pages of calligraphies. One cheaper thing is the amber stone. You may find beautiful amber-stone work in the bazaar.

Opal doublets set in 22k gold. The apparent gap between the opal and the setting is an artifact caused by the shadow from my light source. That's the hazard of using a point source without diffusion, but it gave better colors in the opals. Actually, the real reason I use it is because I've been too cheap to buy a table-top photo studio or a diffuser, so I stand there waving a flashlight around trying to get decent colors without having too much glare. It's way too much work.