Grand Bazaar of Bursa

I found out that I was running a bit late based on my anticipated schedule. I thought that spent a little too much time in the Grand Mosque and now I need to catch up. Fortunately, a lot of the places here are right next to each other. The Emirhan is an old inn which caters to travelers who come to visit the Grand Mosque. There are also other inns in the area and you know what happens when there are a lot of people in an area, there would be enterprising folks who would set up shops. The result was the Grand Bazaar of Bursa, which some may consider to be the oldest shopping mall in the world. I don’t know about that since I distinctly remember that the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul also claims to be the oldest shopping mall in the world.

I think that Bursa has a longer history of Ottoman rule compared to Istanbul so there might be some credence to the claim that it is the oldest, but whatever. The Grand Bazaar of Bursa is a covered conglomeration of shops, very similar to the ones I saw in Istanbul. Really, I don’t think they would look any different. They also sell similar stuff. The covered walkway is a godsend in the afternoon heat. The roof is decorated with Islamic patterns and I think it is very attractive. For a bazaar, I always thought it was strange to see very modern jewelry shops but I guess jewelry would have also been on sale here even back then.

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