Nearly every European city has one or more outdoor markets featuring everything from locally grown produce to fish, breads, and non-food items. Larger markets include vendors selling antiques, crafts, wines, and art work.
Cities like Paris, Rome, and Munich offer several different markets ranging from up-scale gourmet to flea markets. In every case, spending a morning at one or more markets gives visitors a taste of the culture not often found along the normal tourist pathways.
Markets are the Center of Local Activity
As with many European central open-air markets, the fish market in Bergen, Norway is surrounded by restaurants and shops. Museums and the “German Warf” or Bryggen, a colorful reminder of the city’s Hanseatic past, are a few minutes walk from the market. At night, the area is alive with visitors.
Many European cities have transformed their dock areas into vistas of fashionable restaurants, clubs, and markets. The Fish Market in Hamburg on the Elbe River is an example of a highly successful and spectacular market destination. Located on the river banks near St. Pauli, the market opens at 5 A.M. on Sundays (7 A.M. in the winter months).
Vendors sell everything from confections to souvenirs while the “fast food” in this market might consist of a tasty Bismarck herring on a hard roll. Open air markets are some of the best places to sample traditional cuisine whether a Weiss Wurst in Munich or an Elk Burger in Bergen.
One of Hamburg’s larger produce markets is held in Blankenase, a swanky suburb overlooking the Elbe and a neighborhood worth visiting in its own right.
A Place to Sample, Smell, and Observe
One of Rome’s best out-door markets is at Campo de’ Fiori. Besides fresh fruits and vegetables, vendors sell dozens of varieties of olive oils, indigenous liquors, spices, and crafts.
Visitors can ward off the steamy summer Roman heat with homemade gelato, sold on every corner of the market. By no means Rome’s only out-door market, it is one of the largest and open every day.
A visit to Venice should include a walk “off the beaten path” through the residential sections, hidden behind the churches, museums, and shopping esplanades. Here, in the quiet of everyday living, the market comes to the inhabitants on boats. It is not uncommon to see elongated gondolas pilled high with fruits and vegetables, moored just long enough to satisfy the needs of local customers.
In rural areas, markets are often found along roads or in the plazas around local churches. Cathedrals, since medieval times, have attracted markets in the wide, open squares surrounding the edifices. This is particularly true during late November and December when the Christmas markets dominate most every European city.
European Markets and the Cultural Experience
Whether touring individually or as part of an escorted adventure, travelers benefit from spending free time walking through one of the many markets. The Viktualienmarkt in Munich, for example, highlights exotic and specialty foods as well as a beer garden.
Open air markets offer some of the best and most authentic foods, immerse the visitor in an ambiance of local culture, and suggest gift ideas not found in tourist shops.
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