After leaving the Bilbao train station, we noticed an unfamiliar odor coming from a large building. Wandering in, we were assaulted with the sight of numerous pigs' heads sitting atop glass cases of meat, sausages, whole difficult-to-identify skinned animals (though one, sadly obvious, was a very young piglet), random body parts (like the skin of cow noses), and dozens of legs of ham suspended from the ceiling with cups to catch the drippings. This scene spread on for what seemed like miles, an entire city block of carnicerias and fruterias, with occasional vegetable stands in the open spaces, and a few specialty nooks - one devoted to mushrooms, another entirely to eggs, and a few bakeries. The place was packed, with lines of 10 or more people at many of the vendors' counters; there were literally hundreds of merchants to choose from.
Half-way through the market, the odor that had initially drawn us in intensified. Spotting a staircase, we descended into the fish and seafood market. It was just as large as the upstairs market, occupying the entire lower floor, and it was incredible. Every type of seafood to be found in northern Spain was there - huge tuna, scallops, gooseneck barnacles, dozens of different fish, clams, crabs, crayfish, lobsters, snails, squid, cuttlefish, shrimps... We had no idea what many of them were, but some we recognized were bacalao (cod), flounder, several different kinds of eels, mackerel, anchovies, salmon. For most of the fish, there were also different sortings for various sizes of individual fish. There were even bins just of bacalao cheeks! The locals obviously had their favorite stands, as some of them were surrounded by shouting mobs, while others were deserted.
It was incredible and overwhelming, and we wish there were markets like this back home.
1 comment:
First of all, props to you Amber for all these fantastic pictures. You seem to find the perfect shot to accompany each blog post. I have recently come to the sad realization that I have neglected to take good pictures for the last two years.
Secondly, those pigs heads are amazing! I don't think people would dig that in the states and you might get the cops called on you here in Indonesia (muslim).
When Julia was visiting me in March we visited a traditional marget where there were butchering all sorts of animals including dogs which was pretty gruesome. Gag.
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