Photo Gallery Inside Istanbul's Grand Bazaar
The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is one of the largest covered markets in the world, and one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Turkish metropolis.
Twenty-thousand to 25,000 people work in the bazaar.
Approximately 4,000 stores cater to a mixture of locals and tourists, and offer a wide variety of goods.
According to bazaar management, the giant marketplace is in danger of collapsing because, among other reasons, the vendors have altered the building without permission.
According to the report, 926 vendors have increased the size of their space by thinning out walls. Some 135 walls have also reportedly been removed.
Every day, tens of thousands of people pass through the halls. There are banks, currency exchanges, tea and coffee houses, a police station and a mail service.
Prices aren't always cheap -- the vendors are talented hagglers, and know the bargaining strategies that guide books suggest to tourists.
Because of the growing number of air conditioners and satellite dishes, the state of the bazaar's roof has become a cause for concern.
The bazaar has a huge selection of fine fabrics.
"Unfortunately, there's also a lot of junk too," says one of the vendors. "Cheap clothes from the Far East and plastic trinkets."
People have haggled and traded, gossiped and drunken tea in the bazaar for half a millennium.
"If there is ever another serious earthquake -- like the ones Istanbul has frequently had in the past -- all of this really will collapse," says one vendor.
