In the world’s most-visited city, here’s a view few tourists have seen
Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar is one of the most bustling spots in one of the world’s greatest, busiest cities.

Close to 50 million people pass through the 21 gates of the venerable marketplace each year, and up to 500,000 per day during peak season.

This commercial center at the crossroads of Europe and Asia was established in 1461, and over the next two and a half centuries extended to a labyrinthine sprawl of 61 covered streets. There are more than 4,000 shops across 48,000 square meters — that’s the size of about five city blocks in Manhattan.

Traders deal in gold, jewels, скупка dji leather, fur and spices, as they have done for centuries, and the cacophony raised by the thronging customers reaches to the heights of the hand-painted, vaulted ceilings.

However, through a discreet back door and up some steps, there’s another way to see this most visited of tourist attractions — a new and exclusive rooftop tour, which involves identity checks, waiver forms and safety guidance.
The many red-tiled roofs of the bazaar — one for each shop — will be familiar to cinema audiences around the world after their star appearance in the epic opening chase sequence of the James Bond film "Skyfall," from 2012.

As the suited spy, Daniel Craig raced a motorbike along the rooftop walkways that mirror the market’s streets below, but it’s a much quieter scene that greets us when we ascend to the rooftops on a clear, hot Friday afternoon in September.

Up here, we’re alone but for a reclining cat and the occasional seagull taking a rest from flying over the Bosphorus or the Marmara Sea.