Prices on Saffron are amazing low. Saffron makes a great gift for cooks.

Many stores can vacumn-seal your purchases to ensure that they survive your trip home.

Watch out for bugs. Everything we brought home, apart from the Saffron, was infested with bugs. This was something of a disappointment. However, it shouldn''t have come as a surprise - the market was open-air.

My guidebook describes the Spice Bazaar as a "sensory overload" and I couldn't agree more. There are dozens of stalls selling very fragrant spices, tea, nuts, etc. We got the feeling that this was more authentic then the Grand Bazaar (and no carpet shops!). Just outside the waterfront gate in the Spice Bazaar, Rustem Pasa Camii is a mosque worth seeing.

There are different kinds of shops. Many sell only spices – sold from huge canvas sacks, open at the top so you can see and smell what you are buying. Spices in England are sold in small pots, or other containers, so seeing a sack full of cardamoms, dried basil, oregano, paprika, or ground ginger is therefore amazing. Other more expensive spices may be kept in drawers, or smaller boxes, such as root ginger, ginseng, or saffron. We bought several things to bring back to England with us, but the biggest advantage of buying spices here is the price of saffron. There is a choice here of Persian (Iranian), Spanish, or possibly the best, that from Kashmir, all at about a fifth of the price you would find in England, and better quality to boot.

There are also a number of shops selling dried fruit, and nuts, and some fresh local produce. One such shop we visited sold dried apricots, plums, figs, apples, and bananas, again out of huge sacks. It also offered all kinds of nuts, including pistachio, brazil, and peanuts, and locally-grown olives. The dried fruit is wonderful, full of flavour and sweetness. The shop also sold Turkish delight, which I’d not liked before I came to Istanbul. What is called Turkish Delight in England is sweet, sticky, and not very nice, but the real stuff is wonderful – cubes of honey, rose, pistachio, and vanilla flavour that taste very good indeed. We brought a few boxes home and converted our families to the taste!

Many of the spice shops take credit cards, but not all of the smaller ones. It’s a good idea here to make sure your credit card is swiped in your sight, to make sure there are no extra copies made.

You will encounter very little English here, even though it has become quite a touristy spot. The vendors, especially those of cheese, all want you to have a piece and I am not one to turn down cheese of any kind (except maybe cottage or farmer). It is a chaotic place, but at the same time, dazzling with color. Please remember, that as with most public places, this one is closed on Sunday as well.

It was built in the late 1600's. Today, some of the shops have added items which might appeal to tourists. As a matter of fact, Chuck and I both picked up a bottle of Acqua di Gio for a song.

"Baharat" is the word for spices in Turkey. It is a veritable assault on the senses to walk through this bazaar. Everything is sold in bulk for the most part, although they do have gift spice sets for people who wish to sample a variety of them.

If you are "nuts about nuts", as I am, this should be your destination. They have more varieties of nuts than I knew existed. On 2 occasions, Chuck and I picked up one of their assorted concoctions, and finished it before we got out of the bazaar. They also have dried fruit sheets of apricot (something I hadn't seen since 1962), dates, figs, candied fruits, chocolates and Loukoum with pistachios. The latter is abundant and can be had cheaply.

This is a great place to buy henna; they have the red and black varieties and they are sold in grams (28 grams=1 oz). Also of excellent quality are the cinnamon, saffron twigs and tea. Apple tea is in vogue here but you can find Earl Grey or the Indian Darjeeling.

Have a yen for olives?? You can buy them freshly picked or cured in every shade of black there is. You will also encounter some shops that sell meat, chicken and fish, fruit & vegetable stands nestled between the spices venues. Most shoppers were locals, and several times, we lost sight of one another amidst the madness of bodies all moving in the same direction.

In the midst of the market, I found a sign saying "bastarma" which is a form of cured pastrami which is a delicacy in these parts of the world. I went into the shop and the man who was slicing it had me taste a piece, as is very customary with whatever it is they want you to buy. For the uninitiated, this stuff is quite leathery and has enough garlic to put vampires in limbo. I'm told it's an acquired taste.

The Egyptian Market doesn't come to an abrupt end, but sort of spills out into another selling area that offers flowers, interesting clay and other pots, and plants. They also have small caged birds for sale.

A magical experience!