Lonely Planet İstanbul Guide

ART, ANTIQUES KHAFTAN ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; % 0212-458 5425; Nakilbent Sokak 16; h 9am-7pm; j Sultanahmet) Gleaming Russian icons, delicate calligraphy (old and new), ceramics, karagöz (shadow-puppet theatre) puppets, Ottoman prints and contemporary paintings are on show in this attractive shop. MEHMET ÇETINKAYA GALLERY ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; % 0212-517 1603, 0212-517 6808; www.cetinkayagallery.com; Tavukhane Sokak 5-7; h 9am-8pm; j Sultanahmet) Mehmet Çetinkaya is one of the country’s foremost experts on antique oriental carpets and kilims. Built over a Byzantine well, his flagship store-cum-gallery stocks items of artistic and ethnographic significance, and is full of treasures including carpets, kilims, textiles and jewellery. A branch in the Arasta Bazaar ( MAP ; Arasta Bazaar 58; h 9am-8pm; j Sultanahmet) sells textiles and antique jewellery. İZNIK CLASSICS ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; % 0212-516 8874; www.iznikclassics.com; Utangaç Sokak 17; h 9am-8pm, closes 6.30pm winter; j Sultanahmet) İznik Classics is one of the best places in town to source hand-painted collector-item ceramics made with real quartz and using metal oxides for pigments. Admire the range here or at branches in the Arasta Bazaar ( MAP ; % 0212-517 3608; Arasta Bazaar 119; h 9am-8pm, closes 6.30pm winter; j Sultanahment) and Grand Bazaar ( MAP ; % 0212-520 2568; Şerifağa Sokak 188, İç Bedesten; h 8.30am-7pm Mon Sat; j Beyazıt-Kapalı Çarşı) . The shop next door at number 13 sells Kütahya ceramics, including tiles, plates and bowls. CARPETS, JEWELLERY CERAMICS Peddling literature since 1996, these twin shops stock a wellpresented selection of English-language novels, history books, maps and coffee-table tomes on Turkey, and have knowledgable staff on hand to recommend a good holiday read. The second, smaller, shop is on the opposite side of the road half a block closer to Aya Sofya.