Magic Carpet Ride with Ali - We knew we would like a rug as a Turkish souvenir so finding Ali was the perfect answer. We gave him some info upfront on what we were looking for and he delivered! Ali is so knowledgeable on Turkish and other “oriental” rugs and educated us while offering Turkish coffee and tea in the first shop. We spent much more than the allotted time agonizing over the beautiful options but Ali was ever patient and even offered to go to still more shops. When one salesman was a little too pushy, he stepped in to “save” me and we left to see a wholesaler who purchased used and antique rugs. We found 3 unique rugs we could not live without and Ali made arrangements for shipments home. Very educated, articulate and fascinating person to show you Istanbul and especially the rug markets!

An experience not to be missed - The Grand Bazaar and surrounding streets full of stalls are a fascinating mix of old and new. Don’t worry about safety, you feel very safe and not scared to walk around freely any time of day or night. Weekends do get really busy as locals also visit but even though it’s crowded you still feel safe. The main covered area which is known as the bazaar does feel very commercial and more like a Mall as each stall has a sign and standard size but the many many streets surrounding the area are the old style traditional stalls that you imagine a bazaar to be like. Street after street of narrow walkways with all kinds of wares for sale. There’s food and restaurant areas, and dessert cafes, all of which give a nice resting place before more shopping. There’s no pressure to buy, in fact the stall holders wait for you to approach, not like many years ago. You won’t find and gold or jewellery stalls but spices, Turkish delight, fruit, nuts, traditional crafts, bags, T-shirt’s and souvenirs are in abundance.