Tag: markets

Istanbul’s Best Street Markets

By Anita Choudhary

As well as being the most populous city in Turkey, Istanbul is also known as the country’s cultural and financial center. It is referred to as the bridge between the Asian and European continents as it is situated on both sides of Bosphorus Strait which links the Black Sea with the Marmara Sea. In 2010, Istanbul was listed as one of the three cultural capitals of Europe. The city is also the home of some excellent shopping opportunities. Listed below are some of Istanbul’s best street markets to explore when visiting the city.

photo by echiner1

Spice Bazaar – since 1664, the Eminönü Egyptian Spice Bazaar has been referred to as a gastronomic paradise by those who enjoy the use of numerous spices while practicing their culinary expertise. This is the best place for finding a number of different food items and spices seven days a week. Here you will find a wide variety of dried fruits, essences, nuts, oils, and olives while the air is filled with the scent of Mehmet Efendi coffee that has just been freshly ground.

Fatih Çarşamba Market – located in one of the more conservative areas of Istanbul, this Wednesday-only affair features brand name clothing, cured meats, eggs, fruits and vegetables, and all types of gadgets, all of which can be purchased at extremely affordable prices. The market is not for the faint of heart as it is a disorganized and unruly affair where it is not uncommon to see numerous vendors standing atop their product tables and bellowing out the prices of their items.

Inebolu Sunday Market – located in the Kasimpaşa district of grimy downtown Beyoğlu, this is what would easily be called the traditional culinary carnival of Anatolia. You will find numerous booths laden with bins of olives, bright and colorful flowers, chunky corn bread slabs, eggs by the crate, fragrant herbs by the bushel, and sacks filled with grains, hazelnuts, or walnuts. It opens at 6 am and oftentimes closes by 4 pm.

Yeşilköy (green village) Market – if you’re searching for a street market that operates at a less frantic, more relaxed pace, Yeşilköy is just the ticket. Greenery is abundant and this Wednesday-only venue has the reputation of only offering the finest, high-quality items at the most reasonable prices possible. There are 2,000 vendor stalls and the market even has toilet facilities if you need them. Additionally, there is tea cafés located throughout the market when you want to take a break from all the browsing.

Çarşamba – The Wednesday market, better known as Fatih Çarşamba has a huge fruit, branded clothes, vegetables, gadgets, eggs and cured meat at amazingly low rates. Although it is extremely interesting, all of the sellers sell on tables in bags but completely disorganized and chaotic. But it is mostly a locals market, you need to bargain and haggle to get a good deal. .

via Istanbul’s Best Street Markets | Venere Travel Blog.

March 14, 2012
Quiet market traders? Istanbul may as well just install vending machines

A shouting ban is crazy, as markets are meant to be noisy places – you should have heard my grandfather sell his wares

guardian.co.uk

A fish monger in front of his stall at a market in Istanbul, Turkey

A fishmonger in front of his stall at a market in Istanbul, Turkey. Photograph: Alamy

I once made a surprised man fall over a small dog by shouting at him in a market, which is testimony – if any were needed – to the power of vocal advertising. Markets are supposed to be noisy. They are the last unsterilised retail environment, and banning shouting, heckling, recreational foul language and casual threats would be like carpeting the Amazon. But sadly, this is exactly what authorities in Turkey have done, by introducing a law last month that bans traders from shouting and singing.

Market trading has been in my family for generations and so I feel a sense of comradeship with those in Turkey now being forced to quieten down. My own grandfather would stand in Petticoat Lane with fabric stolen from a Limehouse curtain wholesaler and go about his business shouting: “All nicked! Nothing legal! Take it off my hands quickly ladies – I’m too pretty for prison.” Let’s consider this for a moment – here is a man, loudly proclaiming an actual crime and furthermore stating an enthusiastic desire to make an actual profit from it, in broad daylight, in the middle of London. Remarkable.

In Britain, selling fruit and veg from a market stall is still sometimes a licence for foul talk. It can often just pour out of you as soon as you put your money belt on. Good fruit and veg market shopping can be like buying stuff from her out of The Exorcist. But it’s always, I hope, just a bit of fun. Many of my counterparts in Istanbul have managed to turn this kind of thing into song. They’ve given the format lyrical integrity, like Rodgers and Hammerstein. Brilliant.

There is certainly a need to stop traders harassing shoppers, but that’s because harassment is a crime, not advertising your wares. Many London markets prohibit heckling by traders, but this works because most of the larger ones are now entirely gentrified. It’s all cupcakes and knitwear, from Camden Town to Greenwich. After all, crochetwork is a tricky thing to heckle passers-by about. It wouldn’t stop me having a go, though, as you can probably imagine. But anyway. The point is that people are going to these markets for entirely different reasons to those visiting our friends in Istanbul. As long as the traders aren’t heckling each other – which any half decent market manager will stamp on immediately – a bit of volume absolutely makes the occasion.

Perhaps the Turkish authorities should do away with all the market stalls and install row after row of vending machines, with Mariah Carey being piped through the sound system to add a bit of acceptable ambiance. No one would ever go, of course, and the city would be poorer, both in terms of market rents and cultural character.

“There is no joy in a market shrouded in silence,” said one Turkish market-goer, interviewed about the change in legislation. She is entirely correct. Surely the world is already joyless enough without stopping barrow boys singing about mandarins.

via Quiet market traders? Istanbul may as well just install vending machines | Paul Smith | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk.

February 16, 2012
Fear stalks the markets as euro crisis worsens

By James Moore, Deputy Business Editor

Saturday, 15 May 2010

Markets suffered another day of wild swings yesterday amid continued concerns over the Greek debt crisis and its effect on the euro.

The latest round of selling was sparked by reports that the French President, Nicholas Sarkozy, had threatened to pull France out of the euro if Germany failed to get onside with a bailout of the heavily indebted Greek economy. The uncertainty was exacerbated when Josef Ackermann, the chief executive of Deutsche Bank, suggested in an interview that Greece might not ever pay back its debts.

The turmoil saw the FTSE 100 ending down 170.8 points at 5262. Across the Atlantic the Dow opened sharply down, while other major European markets finished deeply in the red.

The euro also fell steeply on global currency markets. Against the dollar it dropped under $1.24, to its lowest level since October 2008. The weakness in the euro also meant that the pound gained ground against the single currency, rising nearly 1 per cent, or just over a cent. Since the beginning of 2010, as the debt crisis has worsened, the euro has lost about 13.5 per cent against the dollar.

Yesterday G7 finance ministers held a conference call to discuss the global economic situation and the ongoing crisis. George Osborne, the Chancellor, is understood to have told his counterparts that the Government’s priority is an accelerated outline reduction of Britain’s fiscal deficit. Mr Osborne has promised an emergency budget within 50 days of the new Government taking office.

It came amid speculation that the UK could be the next country to face a speculative attack if the eurozone does stabilise as a result of the Greek bailout. Some commentators have even suggested that France might not be immune from the contagion.

George Buckley, economist at Deutsche Bank, said: “There is still a lot of uncertainty out there and you can’t solve everything with a single package. The coalition looks stable at the moment but there will be disagreements and that has even been recognised by both parties.” He said there was a wider concern throughout Europe: that governments might not act to cut deficits soon enough. “And if they don’t, where do we go next?”

Philip Shaw, economist at Investec, said: “Markets are still concerned that Europe is stalling, and that’s an issue for them, because they are always unsure until some time after governments actually take action to introduce austerity measures and that there is evidence that the measures are actually working.”

Mr Shaw added: “As far as Greece is concerned it is far from clear that it is actually out of the woods. The package covers its financing needs until 2011 but if it fails to implement the [austerity] measures or its economy takes a sharper downturn than was expected, then by next year the country may find it difficult to borrow money at an interest rate that it is prepared to pay.”

Economists say Britain does have several advantages over Greece and other eurozone countries with debt problems such as Spain, Portugal and even Italy, which collectively with Ireland have been given the unflattering acronym of Piigs by economists.

The UK has a floating exchange rate and its debt is much longer-term than Greece. It also has a flexible economy and a stable tax base, which is collected. However, David Buik, partner at BGC Partners, said: “I doubt there is a single person on the planet who can seriously put his hand on his heart and say that he is certain that Greece at the bottom and even the UK can service or repay its debt over the timetables that have been set out. Politicians have simply not been willing to talk about the pain that doing this will inflict.”

The Independent

May 15, 2010