Valencia’s Central Market

Valencia’s Central Market (built 1928) is the largest daily market with fresh produce in Europe. It is located in a beautiful, covered building in the centre of the old city with tiles, mosaics and stained-glass decorations that illustrate the orchards and gardens in Valencia. We liked it because of the wide, airy aisles, brightness, extreme cleanliness and the variety of food it offers. We could only imagine how great it would be to shop there on a daily basis rather than Zehrs or Freshco.

There are more than 1200 stalls with fresh fruit and vegetables - lots of oranges, tomatoes and beans. Meat, cheese, spices, nuts, fish and seafood are just some of the other products. We enjoyed sampling the hams (from acorn-fed Iberico pigs) and a variety of cheeses that were offered to us.

Colours, aromas, tastes… our senses were definitely aroused…

We had a Menu del Dia meal in an outside restaurant in front of the market . Rotating street musicians played 10 minute sets then moved on to another location. So we saw a little band (see video), a traditional guitarist and an accordion player in the time we were there. That was fun and they were all good!

Our ‘meal of the day’ consisted of three parts - choices of starters, main meals and desserts. Wine, beer or old drinks were included in the 15 euro price tag with no tax and no tip. What a deal! Chris had a pan-fried octopus and salad starter, followed by veal and grilled vegetables plate and finished with a large slice of a lemon pie with whipped cream. A mug of beer was included. All delicious.

The restaurant had a note that if we bought anything from the market they would cook it for us. Life is good here.Read more