These photos speak for themselves. I never tire of the vibrant pulse of the Mercado Centro de Atarazanas here in Malaga. The moorish influence and the stunning stained glass window at the back make it a compelling structure.  And with it being but a few blocks from the apartment, I visit most days to shop and feast my senses on the sights, sounds, and smells!

I have been introduced to new ideas about how one should behave at the market from reading travel blogs but I was witness to one poor lady who didn’t do her research. This unknowing woman innocently selected a piece of fruit and handed it to the vendor who immediately went into a vicious tirade, shouting in broken English and Spanish that you don’t touch the produce! No tocar! No tocar! The poor woman tried to politely explain that she wanted to buy the fruit she had touched and the vendor emphatically threw the fruit into the garbage and began wildly waving her arms about shooing the woman away.  Yikes!  Luckily I had read about this or it could have been me turning all shades of embarrassment.

Something else I have observed is that you rarely find beef, lamb or pork already cut up.  You inform the butcher of the cut you would like and he/she butchers a honking big piece of meat right in front of you – talk about fresh!  The exception to this is chicken. You can get legs and breasts etc. but some of the whole chickens are such a weird colour I can’t force myself to buy them – they look jaundiced!

*Feel like I need to include a warning here – if you are squeamish you may find the next few photos offensive!

I am also not accustomed to seeing poor Thumper behind the counter with his eyes bulging and no fur! This, and what about with his guts hanging out? Rather unsettling to say the least.

So is Little Bo Peep’s sheep with his head skinned but with his eyes and teeth intact.  Doesn’t much seem like dinner to me but hey, new experiences are educational right?!  Think I can do without that piece of education at the moment.

And this little piggie went to market but I bet he wished he hadn’t!  I wonder what you serve with pig’s ear? There were tails available as well!

Considering my shellfish allergy I was very brave, or foolish depending on how you look at it, and visited the fish section of the market so I could snap a few photos.  I’m glad I did because this is where you get to hear the fish mongers bantering back and forth calling out their catch of the day in their sing song way.  Sounded like they were having fun!

 

The fruit and vegetable section of the market seems tame compared to the above but what it lacks in interest it makes up for in colour.

I’ll finish with some random photos and let you think up your own captions.