What it is
Built in the seventeenth century to fund the New Mosque next door, the Spice Bazaar is an L of vaulted halls selling spices, Turkish delight, dried fruit, tea and a great deal aimed squarely at visitors.
The streets around it are where locals actually shop, and they are more interesting than the covered part: coffee roasters, cheesemongers, and stalls selling one thing extremely well.
Eminönü itself is the hinge of the old city — ferry piers, the Galata Bridge, fish sandwiches from the boats, and the best cheap view of the skyline from the bridge deck.
Arriving by car
Eminönü is busy but not pedestrianised; a car can set you down close to the bazaar entrance on the mosque side. It is one of the easier old-city stops to reach by road.
Traffic across the Galata Bridge at rush hour is slow in both directions. Coming from Beyoğlu, the drive is short in the morning and considerably longer at six in the evening.
Worth knowing
- Taste before you buy — every stall expects it
- The saffron sold cheaply is almost never saffron
- Rüstem Pasha Mosque, up a staircase nearby, has the best tiles in Istanbul and almost no queue
Close by
New Mosque · Galata Bridge · Grand Bazaar · Rüstem Pasha Mosque