Guide
Kemeraltı is the historic market of İzmir, running from the Mezarlıkbaşı quarter down to Konak Square. The shape of it carries its own history: Anafartalar Caddesi, the main street today, describes a long curve because in earlier centuries it followed the edge of the inner harbour. As the harbour mouth silted up, new ground opened for trade and was built over.
In its first form the market looked like a covered bazaar — partly vaulted, roofed in tile, with side streets and arcades. Until recent years the lanes from the Şadırvanaltı Mosque to Havra Sokak were still roofed, and the name Kemeraltı, literally "under the arch", comes from that covered section. Some of the small streets running off it were barrel-vaulted too, and the passages between them formed the arcades.
A number of hans stand inside the market, and it remains the main shopping quarter of the city rather than a preserved museum street. Fewer of the old vaulted and domed shops survive; alongside them are modern business centres, stores, cinemas and cafés, and the streets are busy at any hour.
For a visitor the draw is what is sold in the covered and open parts together: traditional Turkish crafts — ceramics, tile panels, woodwork, tombak metalware, carpets and kilims, and leather goods of every kind.
