Santiago de Compostela – Mercado de Abastos de Santiago

The city’s market is a mix of covered and outside stands with a variety of products for sale, which are mainly linked to food produce.

The church like halls were constructed on the site of the previous market in 1941, although they give the appearance of being older. The above hall has outlets where food is served directly to customers, with seating running along the centre.

In the other halls, there are market stalls on either side with some impressive selections of cheese, meat, fish and vegetables, amongst much else. There seems to be more of a culture of buying fresh produce at the market rather than in larger supermarkets, something long since gone in most parts of the UK.

An appropriate symbol for the whole camino journey, a scallop shell, which were once given to pilgrims to mark the end of their walk.

A slightly sad looking fish (not surprising since it’s dead), although the seafood looked fresh. I couldn’t help but notice that there were more people in the market taking photos than there were actually buying the produce, although I can hardly complain as I was doing the same. The traders must have some considerable patience with the number of people who stand in the way of their customers taking close-up photos of the products that they’re selling.