Spain/Valencia: Valencia – Mercado Central
It’s quite a different experience of a European marketplace after the insanity and haphazardness of the African markets for over 2 months. Mercado Central is a massive covered marketplace in the heart of the city housed in a 1928 art-nouveau building decorated with traditional Valenciana azulejos ceramics throughout. But you don’t come here for ceramics – there are 1300 food stalls and seemingly about half of them is Jamon Serrano! After sampling the mouthwatering ham, it’s time to explore all the other local fruit and vegetable specialties – like famous Valencian oranges and clementines, white asparagus, massive Valenciano tomatoes the size of almost my head, olives, and fresh strawberries. And then back to Jamon…
