Istambul, Turkey

A map won't do you any good:) The Bazzar is such massive labyrinth-maze of passageways that you just have to go with the flow allow yourself to get lost. It's part of the fun;)

Michael is right. It is possible to find your way around. There are several ways in and out. I don't remember seeing a toilet. We always go before we go, but considering the number of people in that area there must be toilets somewhere.

it's not too big. bath room is well marked or you can ask shop owners, there are plenty.

Yes there is a basic map available on-line. You can find it on the website for the bazaar (see below). It also shows the locations of the restrooms. I have not used the restrooms in the bazaar so I have no idea what the facilities are like, but I assume they are modern simply because this is such a big tourist attraction. Have fun! http://www.grandbazaaristanbul.org/Grand_Bazaar_Map.html

http://www.turkuguide.com/bazaar.htm Have to say the one bathroom we visited on the 7 day RS Tour last May was a hole in the ground. Practice squatting before you leave Ft. Lauderdale. BTW loved Istanbul. Would return in a nano second. Simply incredible. The History. The Food. The Sites. Don't miss the Chora Church!

Like MS said, skip the map idea. I can't even quess how many times I've gotten myself twisted around in there. (And my first master's was in geography.) It's the last great place to get lost since the old souk in Beirut was demolished. Two concepts to try to get unscrewed: The whole place is divided by a main drag that runs north/south. The north exit heads toward the Spice Bazaar. To the east of the main drag, the layout is largely concentric rectangles - - no matter which way you go, you'll either find an exit or hit the main drag. The layout twists on the west side of the central route. That's where all the toilets are that I've ever noticed. And if you have a hang-up on squatters.......stop traveling. It's pretty much the standard deal in a lot of the world and even (gasp!) in some parts of highly touristy western europe.

There are bathrooms in the Grand Bazaar....pay toilets....about 0.50 Turkish Lira. There are easy to spot "WC" signs at the insections.

We take a small compass with us on all of our travels and it comes in handy in places like the grand bazaar. Just note the direction as you enter and you can always stay oriented to find the way out if you need to exit at the same place. The compass also helps when exiting a tube or metro station in cities like London and Paris. Most of the WC's we found in Istanbul were modern, although we did find some squatters in the back streets we explored around the spice market. We never had to use them though since we went before we launched into any extensive explorations. You won't have any trouble. You will fall in love with Istanbul....

Yeah Ed, easy for YOU to talk about squatters, since you probably don't have to squat as much as we women! I will say it's an art, and just put your hand on the wall to balance yourself! :)

I am usually lost, but somehow I did not get lost in the Bazaar... I found a number of rest rooms there. I think one might have been in a little restaurant where we just had coffee, and they were all fine.

My husband and I were in the Grand Bazaar last September. We were part of a Tauck tour, although we were left off to roam on our own. Both our Tauck travel guide and the Istanbul tour guide warned us about buying anything in the Grand Bazaar. The tour guides said you have to use your own descretion. We only wandered around for only about half and hour. The smoke was unberable throughout the whole Bazaar. We couldnt wait to get outside. I was sick for two weeks after being exposed to the smoke specifically in the Grand Bazaar. We didn't notice any bathrooms. We used one at Starbucks, right down the major street where our guides left us off. I couldn't stand the holes in the ground that were so prevalent in Istanbul and in the Cappodicia area of Turkey. Starbuck's had normal bathrooms. Had I known about all the smoke and the junk they sell at the Bazaar, we wouldn't have even gone there. Some friends of ours were also on an Oceania cruise at the same time. They were too warned by their tour guides to beware of the Bazaar. Some tour books warn you that if you buy rugs from certain vendors, they might never arrive here in the U.S. I made the mistake of buying a purple glass handing lamp on a chain "thing". It is for hanging in the yard. The purple color dispappeared less than three months after we bought it. Now it is just a clear rippled glass thing. It looks as though I bought it at Big Lots for $1.

My wife and I spent a total of 9 days in Istanbul in 2010, 2 days pre-RS tour, 2 days RS tour, and 5 days after the tour was over. We are non-smokers (never were) and had absolutely no smoke problem spending hours over two days in the Grand Bazzar. A great place to buy souvenirs.

We just got back from Istanbul. We spent three days there in the old district. The Grand Bazaar is massive but it's still lots of fun to walk around. I don't think a map will do you much good. We did finally find the beginning of Rick's Bazaar walking tour, and followed it, and we saw the workshops where much of the goods in the Bazaar are made. It was wonderful. The craftsmen were so nice and let us see their shops. We did not notice any smoke at all, and we are not smokers. There are lots of well-marked bathrooms (WC); you have to pay, but it's not much.