Bites And Bazaars Tour in Rüstem Paşa

Highlights

Inclusions

Itinerary

1. You meet your licensed tour guides in front of the Spice Bazaar at 9:00 in the morning. Your guide is competent in both history and gastronomy. After getting to know each other and the region, you start visiting your first tasting stops in the area. We start the day with black tea and “borek”, a morning classic for Turks.

   30 min

2. You have rarely come across such cleverly and carefully constructed mosque architecture dates to 16th century. While you think you are in the streets of Eminonu, you meet the courtyard of Rüstem Pasa Mosque.

   30 min

3. “Han” buildings are not the only values that have survived from the 16th century to the present day. “Tahtakale” is a region that has been a key point in spreading the coffee to the world. We breathe in the smells of the streets while chasing coffee culture.

   30 min

4. While passing through these streets you will say "I wish I knew Turkish". Along the way, we will see the excitement of tradesmen talking to each other, customers bargaining, and porters which is an occupation has been living for hundreds of years. “Han”s are places that provided accommodation and rest to merchants passing through “Konstantiniyye” for centuries. In the Grand Bazaar, 17 inns that we don't even notice stand silently among 4000 shops. While exploring the silversmiths and their workshops and the values with your guide, you will see how different cultures have been kneaded over centuries in a big city like Istanbul.

   1.5 h

5. Let's share a real table between our tastings at the “han”s. We stop by a place that preserves Assyrian traditions to this day. We will taste our kebaps made from minced meat made with the "zirh" - armor technique.

   1 h

6. Let's drink a coffee and experience how madrassas, which were theological schools that were closed after the end of the Caliphate of Ottoman Empire, survive today without disappearing. And coffee? In the meantime, you can find out what makes this coffee special.

   30 min

7. There is no such a thing as the best baklava, there “are the best baklavas” in the city. Of course, our mother always makes the best, but it is not an ordinary one. Enjoy this wonderful, a great sugar balanced baklava made with the best quality and most delicious peanuts from Gaziantep.

   25 min

8. Let's meet one of the most valuable shops of the Spice Bazaar. This shop, which has been owned by the same family for 6 generations, constantly supplies spices and sauces to large chain hotels in Istanbul, chef restaurants and shopping malls. As a courtesy, they are prepared for the "Spice Tasting" exclusively for our guests the tasting that we offer to our chef guests.

   1.1 h

Cancellation

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.

Reviews

Ratings come from 2 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.

Know before you go

How it compares in Istanbul

• Its from-price is 80% above the median of the 126 food tours we list in Istanbul.
• It is longer than most of them.
• By number of reviews it ranks 82 of 126.
• The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About Istanbul

Istanbul straddles Europe and Asia across the Bosphorus, with Byzantine and Ottoman monuments, busy bazaars and ferries crossing between continents.

The historic peninsula holds the greatest landmarks. Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Hippodrome face each other in Sultanahmet, the Basilica Cistern lies beneath the streets, and Topkapı Palace spreads across the hill above the Golden Horn. A short walk away, the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar have traded for centuries, and Süleymaniye Mosque, built by the great Ottoman architect Sinan, crowns one of the city's seven hills.

Top-ranked sights in Istanbul: Dolmabahce Palace (Dolmabahce Sarayi), Bosphorus, Bosphorus Bridge (Bogazici Koprusu).

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