Eski Bizans kalıntıları üzerinde, geniş bir onarımdan geçirilerek yapılan Arasta Çarşısı, her iki yanı geleneksel hediyelik halı, kilim, seyahat hatırası, İznik çinileri, boyun atkısı eşya türünden ürünler satan, güzel dükkânlarla dolu dar bir sokaktır. Bu bölgede 1930’lu yıllarda yapılan kazılarda, Bizans Sarayı’na ait mozaikler bulunca, bölgenin saray kompleksine ait olduğu ispatlanmıştır.
1912 yılında çıkan yangınla tahrip olan çarşı, uzun dönem harabe olarak kalmış; son dönemlerde de gecekondu sakinlerince işkâl edilmiştir. 1980’li yıllarda Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğü tarafından, mekân gecekondulardan arındırılarak, restore edilmiştir ve pazar faaliyete sokulmuştur.
Kaynak: www.ibb.gov.tr
The Arasta Bazaar was very near to our hotel and we walked through it most days on the way out to some exploring or on the way back. The items for sale their looked pretty good but I didn't end up buying anything. I did want to pick up a (admittedly touristy) coffee mug with that amazingly red Turkish flag on it, but I ended up forgetting. It's a smaller bazaar that definitely doesn't have the hard-sell merchants always calling out to you, which is nice.There's a really nice looking restaurant/cafe one end of the market which we did sit at for a while whilst waiting for our friends. Unfortunately, we did not eat there so I can't give you any reviews other than everyone was very relaxed, smoking a narguileh (water pipe) and really enjoying the music that was played live by a few musicians. What a great, social atmosphere, just spending the evening talking with friends and family.
Addendum: One thing that we missed out was the Great Palace Mosaic Museum. I knew it was there, but didn't actually take the time to see it. That's something that I regret. It houses mosaics recovered from the remains of the Great Palace which was originally started by Constantine the Great. They are the largest landscape mosaics remaining from late antiquity. The palace was the centre of Byzantine government for 800 years. I can't blame our missing this on the museum itself, but the front is really subdued and quite small. Certainly not befitting what is contained inside. I would never believe that the remains of the palace that was so important for nearly a millennium would be housed in such an unassuming building. When I go back to Istanbul, I will definitely not miss it again.
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