More-shopping-valencia
Valencia’s wonderful old Mercado Central offers a great shopping experience. The small stands stack an amazing array of fruit and vegetables, but for us, the “regional” products on display were the real highlights, to offer more-shopping-valencia.
We were impressed by the lines of cured hams and the beautiful wheels of sardines. Watching knowledgeable housewives seek out the perfect salt cod was fun, and finding the best piece is clearly very important when you are out shopping.
Valencia’s main department store chain (Corte Ingles) also provided an unexpected highlight. In addition to picking up some food and fabric bargains to take home, we enjoyed wandering among the extensive array of traditional costumes on sale. These dresses really are beautiful, and we saw enough of them to realise that they are much more than museum pieces.
Corte Ingles also provided a great range of cheeses and ham slices for a great people-watching picnic, especially with crusty bread and a few olives. This was another unexpectedly enjoyable low-key highlight. We really enjoyed sampling from Valencia’s variety of “fast-food” options. The taste of an orange picked from a tree was not a highlight, but the freshly-squeezed juice from a street-side café definitely was. We also enjoyed the thick, gooey hot chocolate and the special Mona de Pasqua cakes. Some crusty, meaty bocadillos for the flight home were also a highlight that lasted beyond Valencia. Excellent. In between our forays to the Mercado and Corte Ingles, lunch at La Utielana was one of the highlights of our time in Valencia. It was a memorable local experience – with great food and a great atmosphere – and definitely worth seeking out.
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