The Spice Bazaar
An L of vaults beside the harbour, built to pay for the mosque next door.
- Built1660s
- DistrictFatih
It belongs to the Yeni Cami complex: the rents from the shops paid for the mosque's upkeep. The name comes from the Egyptian tax revenue that funded it, not from the spices.
What sells here now is more lokum and tourist tea than serious spice. The real spice is in the streets around it, where the restaurants buy — two hundred metres away and half the price.
Open every day, Sundays included, unlike the Grand Bazaar.
What to look for
- The vaulted L of the hall, and the light coming through the high windows mid-morning.
- The streets around it — Tahmis, Hasırcılar — where the restaurants buy and the price is different.
- The Yeni Cami next door: the bazaar was built to pay for its upkeep.
- The plant and animal market in the back courtyard, which almost no itinerary mentions.
Before you go
- Open every day, Sundays included — unlike the Grand Bazaar.
- Taste before you buy: it is normal and expected. Anything shrink-wrapped with a tulip printed on it is for visitors.
- Half an hour inside, half an hour in the streets around it. The streets are the better half.
- It is two minutes from the Eminönü ferry pier, so it fits before or after a crossing.
Nearby
The Grand Bazaar
More than four thousand shops under vaults, and a map nobody manages to hold in their head.
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The Süleymaniye Mosque
The mosque Sinan built at his height, on the one hill from which you see the whole city.
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The Galata Tower
The tower of a foreign colony that ended up inside the city surrounding it.
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