ARASTA BAZAAR IN ISTANBUL

We came across upon arrival was this row of shops near the hotel, to our delight, called "Arasta Bazaar". The place was not as big as the Grand Bazaar or the Spice Bazaar but I think the items on sale are almost the same. In fact, I bought some of the things from here before going home on the last day of my stay.

 

Let's just see what would were the items that people could take back home from Istanbul.

We also stopped at a stall for lunch here. The choice of food: kebab, apple tea and pomegranate juice. Later we found out that people here drank a lot of apple tea and pomegranate juice.

We stopped at one shop selling carpets as my friend, Mr. Razib, wanted to get one. We were welcomed into the shop and were served cups of apple tea, and then the carpet seller started his lengthy explanation of the various carpets available in the shop. Do not worry if you think that you would have difficulty carrying the carpet on the plane as the people at the shop will neatly fold your carpet and pack it in a special bag. Istanbul is a place where many people go to get their carpets (especially Malaysians, I guess) but I did not get any though, they were a bit too expensive for me.

 

There will more posts of other visits to other bazaars in Istanbul later.


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