Can anyone who knows Istanbul well share any suggestions for neighborhoods that have a concentration of multiple, traditional specialty shops for the same kind of products/merchandise?
We don't see this so much anymore in many large, modern cities, where most neighborhoods have become homogenized to a great degree. But for millennia, big old cities have often had entire neighborhoods dedicated to specific kinds of products, crafts, or services. For example, on previous visits to Tokyo, I discovered Kappabashi, aka "kitchen town" where the streets are lined with shop after shop selling nothing but things for your kitchen. There's also Ochanomizu, a Tokyo neighborhood where every storefront specializes in musical instruments and all other music-related products. In Bangkok, I once wandered unknowingly into what was apparently the city's primary (and vast) neighborhood for buying cut flowers.
I'm sure there are many examples like these in cities all around the world, though most tourists typically don't seek them out and they're only known to locals. Probably all great cities once had these specialty districts. These places are amazing, and even if you have no intention of stocking up on kitchen knives or guitar strings, these places are a complete hoot to wander and poke around.
I'll be going back to Istanbul in October (I was there when the pandemic blew up and we had to cut short our trip, so for me Istanbul represents some "unfinished business" and -- I'm hoping -- some "pandemic closure," too). I'm guessing that Istanbul, a huge ancient city at the crossroads of everything, and a worldwide center of trade going back forever, must have some amazing specialty shopping neighborhoods. I'd like to explore some of them.
Can anyone point me to any? Thanks!
(Yes, of course, I know about Istanbul's very famous traditional shopping spots, particularly the Grand Bazaar, and the Spice Market, which are indeed awesome in their own right...I'm looking for other places/neighborhoods where there are concentrations of specialty shops focused on specific kinds of goods. Not shopping malls, not high-end "shopping streets" with glossy, upscale retail shops; rather, small shops, old school, not marketed for tourists, in fact probably not "marketed" at all, in the way the term is used as a today as a verb...).