The Egyptian Market Istanbul
The Markets of Istanbul
The Egyptian Bazaar (known as the Misir Carsisi in Turkish) and also known as the Spice Market was built as a part of the complex of the New Mosque (known as the Yeni Camiı in Turkish) in the 1600s. I would walk often through the markets in search of the little boy of Istanbul. I thought I might find him somewhere around here.
In the Egyptian Bazaar, the visitor to Istanbul can find tourist shops for souvenirs, dried fruits, candies, jewelry, exotic spices, teas, natural homeopathic remedies, lamps, silver pots and pans, fabrics, belly dancing costumes and even aphrodisiacs. You can find here, well, just about anything you need. The residents of Eminönü, Istanbul come here to buy their food. It’s often very crowded with people. It used to be closed on Sundays, but I’m not sure if it’s stıll closed on that day.
Somewhere in the market, Mr. Blue Jeans has his little shop selling blue jeans, sweatshirts, t-shirts, belts. It was on the second floor of the Market. I went there often, looking for the little boy of Istanbul. I would sit down with Mr. Blue Jeans and he would offer me apple tea and we talked in broken English. He took me downstairs to another part of the market and introduced me to his friends who owned stalls in the Market, also selling jeans and t-shirts and that sort of thing. When I had found the little boy of
Istanbul, I went with him to his shop and I bought jeans, a belt, a sweatshirt and a t-shirt for the little boy. Then Mr. Blue Jeans took us to his friend’s shop that sold shoes and we found some nice shoes that were perfect for the little boy of Istanbul. I kept the business card Mr. Blue Jeans gave me because one day, when I return to Istanbul, I will go back to his shop and drink apple tea with him.
Beside the New Mosque, there is a laneway of shops selling plants, seeds, gardening supplies and birds in cages. When walking by these shops, I imagined that when I returned to Istanbul one day to live in the city, I would come back here to buy plants for my apartment in Istanbul.
Why was the Egyptian Bazaar named “Egyptian”? It was so named because a couple of centuries ago, it was constructed with the money collected on the taxes paid for Egyptian products.
I didn’t know it then, but I walked for so long through the streets of Istanbul and I visited also another well-known Market called the Covered Market. I had coffee in here and took photos and bought fresh, sweet Turkish delight. The Covered Market houses over 4000 shops and many of these are jewelry shops. In the markets, the salesmen call out to you to come inside, beckoning to you to see their wares. Maybe they will make a sale. It gets annoying after awhile but you have to remember, it’s only business as usual in Istanbul.
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