The Turkish market in Maybachufer Berlin is a vibrant, bustling market offering fresh produce, Mediterranean specialties, textile accessories, street food and more.
It can also be a sensory challenge, with many colors, lights, smells, sounds and strangers brushing against you when it's busy.
While the sign says that the market is open on Tuesdays and Fridays from 11:00 AM to 6:30 PM, most stalls start closing busily and noisily already at 6:00 PM, with cars already accessing the street behind them.
To avoid crowds, lights, and litter, and to access produce at its freshest, it is best to visit the market from 11:00 to 12:30.
For those looking for a great deal, however, from around 5:00 PM you can get large amounts of produce for low prices.This is, however, a more difficult time to visit the market from the sensory point of view.
Stalls may have lights on even during the day in winter, and they can be very bright on winter evenings.
In the rush hours (from 13 on, when it's not too cold or rainy, and especially on sunny days), it does get pretty full, and people will be blocking your path and even bumping or brushing against you.
It can get pretty loud in the market, even when it isn't full, because vendors chant to attract customers to their stalls.
Shouts of prices and offers in both German and Turkish can be heard.
Close to closing time, loud sounds of wood stalls being removed can be surprising and overwhelming.
Food smells are predominant, whether the smell of fresh produce, the smell of spices or food cooking from different world cuisines.
Sometimes there will be a stall or two using insense.
The market is located on both sides of the Maybach Ufer street, between Kottbusser Brücke and Friedler Strasse.
In produce stalls, there is no single queue to line in. Rather, you just approach the produce, and start picking a few fruits/vegetables. Once the stall owner sees you selecting produce, they will offer you a plastic bag to put it in. If you don't want a plastic bag, you can say "Keine Tütte bitte".
Place the produce you selected into the bag, or hand it directly to the vendor if you down want a bag. The vendor will weigh the produce and tell you the price. Pay in cash only and wait for your change.
In non-produce stalls, such as ones selling baked goods, food stalls/trucks. delis, animal products, textile and accessories, you are not allowed to touch the products, but rather have to ask the vendor for what you want.
To save packing material, you can bring your own bags and containers from home.
Close to Bramibal Donuts there are male and femail paid toilets that are above street level and reachable by a few steps.
