The bazaars of istanbul an aura of romance and oriental flair still today surrounds the old structures the narrow winding alleyways the friendly merchants the busy craftspeople and the abundance of colorful and exotic merchandise in the bazaars of istanbul. The grand bazaar turkish kapalicarsi meaning covered market also buyuk carsi meaning grand market in istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world with 61 covered streets and over 4000 shops on a total area of 30700 m 2 attracting between 250000 and 400000 visitors daily in 2014 it was listed no1 among the worlds most visited . Old bazaars of istanbul grand bazaar the grand bazaar or kapalicarsi covered bazaar in turkish is one of the oldest and largest covered egyptian bazaar the egyptian bazaar or misir carsisi in turkish is also known as spice market its located just arasta bazaar the arasta bazaar . Bazaars in istanbul istanbul has always been an important city throughout the historylocated on the crossroads of trade routes it surely enjoyed a great deal of international attention and its economy has always grown up since the beginning of the settlement here commerce was heavily practiced and bazaars were filled with all kinds of items buyers and sellers from everywhere