Arasta is the bazaar for people who found the Grand Bazaar too much. One straight street of about seventy shops, tucked behind the Blue Mosque, selling largely the same goods with none of the pressure.
Carpets and kilims dominate, alongside ceramics, textiles and silver. Dealers here expect browsers and will unroll pieces without expecting a sale, which makes it a better place to learn what you are looking at before you commit to buying anywhere.
Halfway along, a door leads into the Great Palace Mosaic Museum, where Byzantine floor mosaics sit exactly where they were found.
From Romance Istanbul Hotel it is an eleven-minute walk.
Category:
Shopping