Half Day Hidden Bazaar Private Shopping Tour in Istanbul

Katerina offered a great introduction to shopping in Istanbul. We covered the obvious sites like the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market, but also went to some less-touristy sites to see how many Turkish people shop everyday. If you want an introduction to shopping in the old city in Istanbul, this is a great place to start!

Katerina was a fantastic tour guide. We had a great experience and will reach out to work with her again the next time we are in Istanbul. Highly, highly recommend.

Katerina was a wealth of information as well as being friendly and easy to spend the morning with. As well as the Grand Bazaar and Spice Market, Katerina took us up alleyways where we were able to see many of the talented creators of gold, silver, copper and more items available for sale in the markets. She was able to change the itinerary on the spot to accommodate my injuries. I felt like we’d not just experienced a wonderful tour but made a friend along the way. If you want a down to earth, passionate & smart tour guide then Katarina is the pick.

Katerina 's tour of old Istanbul's bazaars was excellent! The markets are huge and overwhelmingly maze-like and without Katerina's expertise we would have missed some of the most interesting places and shops. An unexpected highlight of the tour (and of our entire visit to Istanbul) was a visit to the Rüstem Pasha Mosque tucked away a short distance from the Spice Market. It is a smaller but much bluer and equally beautiful version of the famous Blue Mosque (which isn't so "blue" anymore). Katerina, at our request, took us first to visit the Basilica Cistern. She met us at our hotel and took us on a wonderful tour on the subway, funicular, and tram to get us close to the Basilica Cistern. The Cistern (a bucket list item for us) is amazing and the entrance to the Grand Bazaar was just down the street. Katerina's knowledge really helped us understand Istanbul as it is now and was long ago.

Katerina is a most likable lady with a thorough knowledge of Istanbul and its history and has better command of English than I do. She is exceptional. We wanted a Christian perspective of Istanbul and its history and we were not disappointed.

We enjoyed the tour and you did a great job of giving us good advice and moving us around and also being flexible to do the cisterns at the last minute. Appreciated that you were helpful pre-arrival as well.