The Grand Bazaar is a joyful, feverish universe that can overwhelm and unsettle with its thousands of shops and workshops, caravanserais, warehouses, restaurants, fountains, banks and mosque, all of which in a maze of vaulted alleyways, crammed tight with goods for sale. This gigantic covered market, once the biggest in the world, dates back to the 15C. Hunting for bargains here can almost induce a drunken giddiness, while purchasing is a ceremony that involves long and hard bargaining!