Through the Markets and Bazaars - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 155

well as a larger mosque, a primary school and a türbe. The number of
commercial establishments would appear to be about the same now,
in addition to which there have been added several new institutions,
including half a dozen restaurants (the best is the Havuzlu Lokanta),
innumerable teahouses, two banks, plus a toilet and information
centre for lost tourists.
The Bazaar was established on its present site and covering almost
the same area by Sultan Mehmet II, a few years after the Conquest.
Although it has been destroyed several times by fire, the most recent in
1954, the Bazaar is essentially the same in structure and appearance as it
was when it was built four centuries ago. The street-names in the Bazaar
come from the various guilds that have worked or traded in those same
locations now for centuries. Some of these names, such as the Street of
the Turban-Makers and the Street of the Ağa's Plumes, commemorate
long-vanished trades and remind us that much of the fabled Oriental
atmosphere of the Bazaar has vanished in recent decades. A century ago
the Bazaar was more quaint and picturesque, and stocked with more
unusual and distinctive wares than it is today. But even now, in spite
of the intrusion of modern shoddy and mass-made goods, there is still
much to be found that is ancient and local and genuine. Shops selling
the same kind of things tend to be congregated together in their own
streets: thus there is a fine colonnaded street of oriental rug-merchants,
whose wares range all the way from magnificent museum-pieces to
cheap modern imitations. Here too are sold brocades and damasks,
antique costumes, and the little embroidered towels so typically
Turkish. There are streets of jewellers, goldsmiths and silversmiths,
of furniture-dealers, haberdashers, shoemakers and ironmongers. In
short, every taste is catered to; one has but to wander and inspect and
bargain. Bargaining is most important; nobody expects to receive the
price first asked, and part of the fun consists in making a good bargain.
Almost all of the dealers speak half a dozen languages, and there is
little difficulty in communication. But time is essential: a good bargain
can rarely be struck in a few moments - often it requires a leisurely cup
of Turkish cofee, freely supplied by the dealer.
In the centre of the Bazaar is the great domed hall known as the
Old Bedesten. This is one of the original structures surviving from