The Grand Bazaar is one of the oldest mall in the world, the construction started in 1455 and it was completed by 1461. In Turkish it is called as Kapali Carsi that means covered mall. It consists of 61 streets which are covered and there are about 3000 shops in the Kapali Carsi. Kapali Carsi gets approximately 350.000 visitors in a day and It is the most attractive place in the world by the number of annual visitors that is above 90 million in a year.
The Grand Bazaar is situated in Fatih district in Istanbul. It is close to Sultanahmet area, and it is possible to reach Grand Bazaar from Sultanahmet either by tram or walk. It is about 15 minutes walking distance from Sultanahmet. If tram is preferred the station is Beyazit and it is easily accessible from Eminonu & Karakoy direction by tramway.
The Grand Bazaar was built right after Istanbul was conquered by Ottoman Empire, and it was devoted to textile trading and in that days it was called as Cevâhir Bedestan (‘Bedesten of Gems’) or Bezzâzistan-ı Cedîd. Bedestan means cloth bazaar and it comes from Persian. According to sources from late 19 century here were 4,399 shops, 2 bedesten, 19 fountains, one hamam and one mosque inside the Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar covers huge area and there are 18 gates that are opening to streets. In 1984 there was an earthquake in Istanbul and the Grand Bazaar was affected badly, by the World War 1 Cevâhir Bedestan had lost popularity in European market.
There are jewellery shops, carpets shops, furnitures goods, leather products, casual clothes and also souvenir shops in Grand Bazaar currently. It takes about 2 hours to roam around whole bazaar including shopping. There are sales people who can speak any language that is enough to communicate with tourists in order to sell something. The Grand Bazaar works everyday except Sundays and bank holidays from 9:00 until 19:00.