Shopping

Shopping in Istanbul

shoppingIstanbul is very famous city and best point to buy handcrafts, jewelry, tiles, leather goods, fabrics, antiques, paintings, textile, old and modern art, etc. Millions of people have been coming to Istanbul to find the unique pieces for their homes or themselves. They are really finest quality, unique pieces and even cheaper than the machine made ones.

Finest Handcraft and Art in History

Many people in all over the world have no idea about Turks, life style, culture, safety, religion, arts and handcrafts in Turkey. Istanbul had been the capital of Empires thereby Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Therefore, the best architects, artists, carpet weavers, jewelers, tile artisans, tailors had come and worked together for Ottoman royalty. They brought their culture to Istanbul and other cities around of Istanbul. Day by day throughout history, They have created finest unique pieces for emperors and their families. Of course, they had brought or created finest silks, textile, mine, precious stones, leather, and fabrics to support the finest quality.

Today

Nowadays, these became a culture as handmade unique pieces which have been supported by Turkish Government in Turkey. Unsurprisingly, as a person who is going to visit Istanbul, you start to search safe places to eat, visit, stay or shops for shopping. Either you ask somebody who have been here before or you book private tours from recommended tour guides.

You can find many books or web sites with enough information about the Architectural buildings, museums to visit. I do not prefer to call these places as touristic stops. Because, each of them has a unique architectural style which takes you back to those days. They are all worth visiting with amazing building style, mosaics, calligraphies and explanations. But when you try to find some information about arts and handcrafts antiques to buy or learn what they are, you can find only commercial web sites which belong to the shops.. I have to keep except a few web sites or books like the web site of Tourism and Culture of Ministry.

Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar

You are going to see thousands of shops in Grand Bazaar, Spice Bazaar, or in Touristic places. While walking on the road or in the Grand Bazaar alone, you are going to be confused by seeing many shops in similar style. Also, negotiation is a culture. And you start to look windows or ask the prices, you are going to get different prices from shops for similar or same piece. That is the time to decide which price is good. If it is high, is it good quality or touristic price? If it is lower, is it local or bad quality? You start to confuse and half an hour later, you start to get bored or not to feel in safe area and leave the Bazaar without buying anything or you are going to find yourself may be in a wrong shop while doing the negotiation.

Because of these situations, I tried to give some idea about what to buy, how to buy or what to find in Istanbul. You can find enough information here about the history of art and hand crafts, shopping style, Culture, safety. If you would like to have more information for your further questions about anything in Istanbul or Turkey, Please do not hesitate to contact me! Your questions are going to be answered all the time…

For more information please click on the links below…

Taksim Square

Taksim means “division” which situated in the European part of Istanbul. During the Ottoman Period, a stone reservoir had been built up here to collect the water from northern part of Istanbul and branch off to other parts of the city. The square had got the name from Taksim Maksemi (cistern). Before becoming a square, […]

Nisantasi

Nisantasi Today Nisantasi is the place where you can find all brands, Turkish boutiques, nice cafes, restaurants and bars. It carries on to be both luxurious residential area with heavy traffic, activity, crowds and shopping place with luxurious shops, galleries, restaurants and elegant shop windows. Nisantasi is an elite shopping district today. Also it is […]