Tahtakale is the wholesale quarter behind the Spice Bazaar, and it is where the city actually buys things. The streets are narrow, stacked with cardboard boxes, and full of porters pushing trolleys through gaps that look too small for them.
Each lane has a speciality: one for coffee and dried fruit, another for kitchenware, another for buttons and fabric trim. Prices are the lowest in the old city because most of the trade is bulk, but nobody objects to a single kilo of pistachios or one copper pot.
It is loud and not designed for browsing, which is exactly the point. From Hotel Sultania it is about fifteen minutes on foot, downhill towards Eminonu, and the return is easiest along the waterfront.
Category:
Shopping