Why go shopping in a soulless supermarket when you can buy from a Spanish mercado? They’re lively, great for people-watching and you never know when you’ll pick up a bargain.
Villajoyosa (aka La Vila Joiosa) has two markets; a sprawling mercadillo held every Thursday, and the daily Mercado Central.
The mercadillo (loosely translated as “street market”) is big. As in the size of an entire block on Avenida de Bernat Sarriá, a short walk from the Creueta tram stop. You’ll find around a hundred different stalls offering everything from pants to pomegranates, from t-shirts to tomatoes.
They don’t sell fresh meat or fresh fish here…but they do sell just about everything else and usually at a much cheaper price than you’ll get on the high street. Leather goods are a speciality.
Join the crowds and stroll along the lines; cloth is stretched overhead between the stalls to give you some welcome shade.
Towards the back of the market, fresh fruit and vegetables are piled high; the walkways crowded with local women (mostly) and their shopping trolleys, stocking up for the week. Be prepared to move sharply if you get between a determined local and her bargain of choice.
Listen to the traders inviting you to try or buy; “pasa y prueba”(come and try) or “barato hoy, mas caro mañana” (cheap today, more expensive tomorrow!).
Away from the fruit and vegetables, haggling on price is expected. Don’t be shy; everyone does it, and the stallholders are all keen for a sale. Sometimes a bit too keen!
Don’t worry if your Spanish is less than fluent; the language of haggling is international and plenty of the stallholders on the clothing/footwear side aren’t native Spanish speakers either.
Mercado Central
The atmosphere is a little different over at the Mercado Central on Carrer Canalejas. It’s not as noisy and full of life as the weekly mercadillo, but this is where you can buy fresh fish, meat and vegetables every day.
You’ll also find stalls selling dried fish, cheeses and embutidos (delicatessen) in its cool, modern interior. It’s normally open from 8am to 2pm Mon-Sat, usually with a late session (5.30-8.30pm) on Fridays.
Where we shop:
- Delicatessen: Ramón Carrión, all kinds of ham, cheese and cold meats
- Fish: Confraria de Pescadors (all from local boats), Peixos Galiana
- Smoked/dried/salted fish: Vicente Romá
- Wine: El Rincón del Catador – wines you won’t find in the supermarket, including from local wineries
- Fruit & veg: Isa Arte Frutal – plenty of varieties you won’t find in the supermarket
- Health food: La Tendeta dels Sabors. Great range of teas, infusions, nuts, seeds etc
Right by the market entrance, you’ll see Cantina Gallina. Take what you’ve bought in the market, and they’ll cook it for you on the spot. Food doesn’t get much fresher than that! Make sure you ask before you buy your produce – they don’t cook everything!
Alicante’s Mercado Central
If La Vila’s markets have given you a taste for this kind of shopping, it’s worth heading down the coast to Alicante. The elegant Mercado Central on Avenida Alfonso Sabio is a real treat. The tram from La Vila Joiosa stops right outside, or you can park in the underground car park on Avenida Alfonso Sabio.
The market is spread across two floors, full of life and bustle, with stalls offering an eye-popping selection of fresh meat and embutidos on the upper floor and all the fresh fish, fruit and vegetables you’d ever want to eat downstairs. Also on offer: cheeses from all over Spain, dried salted fish (salazones), bread, olives and local delicacies.
Fancy breakfast or lunch?
Once you’ve had a stroll round, take time out for a drink and a tapa or two. Several bars have opened up in the last few years inside the market , serving a range of traditional and not so traditional street food.
Try Katana, an Asian-inspired place in the market basement. It’s really good! Or Aitana’s Corner Bar.
When the market closes (1430 in the week, 1500 on Saturday), you can move to the bars in the square behind the market.
The square is formally named Plaza 25 de Mayo after a particularly bloody day in 1938 at the height of the Spanish civil war. The fascist Italian air force, fighting for Franco’s rebel Nationalists, unloaded their bombs over the Republican city of Alicante, hitting the market and killing more than 300 civilians in the process. There’s a memorial on the square and plaques on the market wall.
Around lunchtime on Fridays and Saturdays, the square fills up with young people enjoying the afternoon tardeo: a chance to drink beer, snack on food bought in the market, meet friends and generally have a good time.
©Guy Pelham. Additional pictures ©Paddy McCullough
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- More than just chorizo; a guide to a Spanish deli counter
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- How to buy the best fish in Spain
- How to buy the best Manchego cheese