Arasta Bazaar is a single street of about seventy shops running along the eastern side of the Blue Mosque. It was built in the seventeenth century as part of the mosque’s endowment: the rents paid for the mosque’s upkeep, and to a degree they still do.
Because it is small and the shops are permanent, it is far calmer than the Grand Bazaar. Carpets, kilims, ceramics and jewellery, with less pressure to buy and prices that are closer to fixed.
Underneath it is the Great Palace Mosaic Museum, reached from the middle of the street, which preserves the floor of a Byzantine imperial courtyard from the sixth century.
Open daily until around 19:00. From The Soul Hotel, tram to Sultanahmet and five minutes on foot past the mosque.
Category:
Shopping