Grand Bazaar
Being there
Vast historic covered bazaar with over 4400 shops. These are organized around their wares, so the silver jewellers are clustered together, shoe shops are together in another alley, and so on. Prices are double those elsewhere and locals don't shop here, but it's an atmospheric place with a vast selection, and some of the antique dealers have genuinely rare stock.
The story
The Grand Bazaar (Turkish: Kapalıçarşı, meaning ‘Covered Market’; also Büyük Çarşı, meaning ‘Grand Market’) in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 4,000 shops on a total area of 30,700 m2, attracting between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily. In 2014, it was listed No.1 among the world's most-visited tourist attractions with 91,250,000 annual visitors. The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is often regarded as one of the first shopping malls of the world.