One of the largest and oldest covered bazaars in the world the grand bazaar is 30700 square meters with over 60 streets and alleys and 4000 shops the original historical core of the bazaar ic bedesten was completed by mehmet the conqueror in 1461. The bazaars in istanbul are trade centres of yesteryear and nevertheless still cast a spell on people from all over the world however tourists and locals dont just come here to stroll through the labyrinth of long passageways to soak in the sight of the laid out merchandise and take in the atmosphere even today just like it had been hundreds of years ago they come to the bazaar to shop here they find everything that the consumers heart desires everyday items and more . The grand bazaar 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 m2 attracting between 250000 and 400000 visitors daily in 2014 it was listed no1 among the worlds most visited tourist attractions with 91250000 annual visitors the grand bazaar at istanbul is often regarded as one of the first shopping malls of the world. Arasta bazaar arasta carsisi is one of the tidiest bazaars or carsi in istanbul and it was where goods used by cavalrymen were sold during the ottoman era its for this reason that its also known as sipahiler carsisi sipahiler being the turkish for cavalrymenthe bazaar which was thought to have been part of the byzantine palace suffered a blaze in 1912 causing significant damage and it had to undergo a long period of restoration during excavations carried out