The Makings Of A Feast Under One Beautiful Unique Roof

The Mercado Central (Central Market) is a three-minute walk from the apartment we are staying at in Valencia, Spain. It was built between 1914 and 1928.  The market is one of the largest in Europe, with more than 86,000 square feet under its roof. It’s built in the Valencian Art Nouveau style.

Most of the vendors sell food items but there are a few souvenir stalls. We bought some amazing produce, cheese, and bread from the market and had a little merienda (afternoon snack) with items from our haul. And, the food here is muy barato (very cheap)!

Here you can see the tiled exterior of the market building - between the palm tree and the Iglesia de San Juan del Mercado (Church of San Juan del Mercado).

One of the aisles in the market.  Look at the beautiful details on the ceiling.

The fresh fruit was insane.  Gorgeous.  I bought fresh squeezed orange juice which I drank as I shopped.  We bought some of these beautiful strawberries to add to our breakfast meals at the apartment.

More than ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall of this beer vendor.

Jamones (hams) are very popular in this area.  Few things are more important to Spanish cuisine and culture than jamón ibérico, the celebrated ham made from Black Iberian pigs.

The vegetales (vegetables) were impressive.  Look at the size of the celery in this photo!  They were at minimum, two feet long!  And check out the leeks right next to them.  And that head of romaine lettuce!  Everything was amazing and what we bought was fresh and fantastic!

¡Olivos! (Olives!) So many varieties it was hard to choose.

This is the cupola and ceiling in the center of the market. The design of the market is said to be an amazing example of Valencian Art Nouveau and looks more like a Cathedral than a market.

Ready-to-eat dragon fruit, cherimoyas, and beautiful oranges.

A cool dried blowfish.

Italian Pimientos (peppers) and beautiful berenjena (eggplant).  One of the dishes we had in Valencia - which was amaaaazing, was Berenjenas Fritas Con Miel (Fried Eggplant with Honey).  Oh.  My.  God.  You must make this dish!

And last but not least, look at these spectacular Pimiento Rojos (Red Peppers).  They were gigantic!  We bought several of them, which I sautéed with garlic in olive oil and then heaped on fresh bread that we also bought at the market.  I'm salivating just remembering how delicious they were.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2022: Taking A Ship To See A Queen
2021: Dignity Of Earth And Sky
2020: When Life Gives You Lemons
2019: Istanbul Cobble
2018: Circulating The Morning Air In The Lonestar State
2017: It's The Real OLD Thing
2016: Stopping In Style
2015: Patiently Waiting
2014: Find Out Where You Can Dine With Giraffes
2013: Sputtering With Excitement
2012: Water May Not Be The Only Liquid Nourishing These Flowers
2011: Nappy Time
2010: Dick. Not A Dick. Which One Are You?
2009: First The Poultry, Now This
2008: California Moon
2007: Ryno And Rob
2006: Living The Dream
2005: Sorry, no post on this day. The blog didn't start until May 2005!