Grand Bazaar at opening: from Beyazıt to Nuruosmaniye
The Kapalıçarşı at nine in the morning — locals shopping, no tour groups, the architecture finally visible. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Beyazıt tram (T1)
The T1 stop at the western edge of the bazaar — Beyazıt Mosque on one side, the Istanbul University gate on the other. Arrive at 9am sharp; the bazaar opens between 8:30 and 9 depending on the shopkeeper. Çarşıkapı is fifty metres east.

2. Çarşıkapı (Beyazıt Kapısı)
The western gate, with the Tuğra calligraphic emblem above the arch. Most tourists come through Nuruosmaniye; you're going the other way. Step inside and let your eyes adjust — the bazaar is dim by design.

3. Cevahir Bedesteni
The fifteenth-century inner vault — the original Byzantine-era hall, the only part of the bazaar that pre-dates Mehmed II's conquest. Goldsmiths and antiques have traded here for six hundred years. Look up at the brick domes; this is what the rest of the bazaar grew around.

4. Zincirli Han
Off a side passage on the bazaar's northern edge — a small Ottoman caravanserai with a central courtyard, a tree, a café, and carpet workshops upstairs. One of the few hans you can wander into without being a customer; ask the dealers before you photograph their goods.

5. Nuruosmaniye Kapısı + Camii
Out the eastern gate. The 1755 mosque facing you is the first major Ottoman-baroque building — hospitable in a way Sinan never was. Five minutes in the courtyard if it's open between prayers.

6. Çemberlitaş tram (T1)
Two minutes north along Vezirhan Caddesi. T1 east to Sultanahmet or west back through Beyazıt. Or stay in the area — Çemberlitaş Hamamı, also a 1584 Sinan, is at the tram stop if you want to soak the morning off.

Grand Bazaar at opening: from Beyazıt to Nuruosmaniye