IP: Day 3 … Adelaide Central Market

The IP was late arriving at the Adelaide Parklands Terminal. We were expecting that, however, as our departure from Cook had been delayed. Nonetheless, we were all off the train and on our respective busses by 8:30p for the short off-train experiences planned for today.

Having visited Adelaide when we were on Regatta in January, we had already done the wandering around. We were not interested in the tour of the Adelaide Oval … described as “the most picturesque sporting grounds in the world.” Thus, we had decided back then to skip the Central Market and visit it on the “Adelaide Central Market Progressive Breakfast” experience.

The Central Market has its origins in 1869. On a Saturday morning, a small group of market gardeners loaded their carts high with fresh produce and made their way to the Victoria Square Precinct. Their goal was to break free from the crowded east end markets. Accompanied by their rattling carts and the Concordia Band, it took them a few hours to reach the area that is now known as Central Market. Over 500 people visited the first market day and by 6:00a the gardeners were sold out. The rest, as they say is history.

Today, the very clean and well-organized market is overseen by a city council. The council is responsible for ensuring pricing equity … the price of grapes, for example, is the same regardless of which stall you go to. They also help organize focus days — today was tomatoes — and inspect the market daily before the doors open to the public to check proper hygiene practices are in place.

Our tour wasn’t quite what we expected. Thinking “progressive breakfast” we thought we would be trying different things at different stalls as we wandered through the market. Instead, on arrival, our guide gave us some information about the market. Then she led us down one of the many walkways between the stalls to a coffee place at the other end of the market for our breakfast … coffee/tea; croissant sandwiches; a yogurt parfait; and cookies. It was all tasty and good … just not the experience we expected.

We had about 30 minutes after our breakfast to wander around on our own. Eventually, we found our way to a chocolatier for a sweet ending to our outing!Okumaya devam et