Egyptian Bazaar
Covered Ottoman bazaar of spice, sweet, and herb stalls built to fund an imperial mosque complex.
This guide to Istanbul's Egyptian Bazaar follows Turhan Hatice, brought to Topkapi Palace as a girl and risen to be the mother of Sultan Mehmed IV, and the years-long standoff with the veteran Kosem Sultan that kept her from the power that should have been hers. It picks up after Kosem's death in 1651, when Turhan finally held real authority over a city just rocked by the Great Fire of 1660 and a mosque complex nearby that had sat half-built and abandoned for three generations. You'll hear how a former slave came to hold that kind of power in the first place. Worth pausing at a spice stall to picture the district before any of this was rebuilt.
Audio guides are written and narrated by AI.