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The central square of Marrakech. It is fantastic, especially in the evening. Smoke rises up from the dozens of food stalls which all offer beautiful piles of vegetables, merguez sausages, kebabs, tagines and more. The cooks will call to you as you walk by, but take your time as you're protected by the watchful eye of the tourist police. When you've chosen, sit down and watch as they theatrically pour out mint tea for you. Bread and sauces are provided. Point out what you want cooked, and then prepare to be defeated. About £5 for much more than two people can eat.
In the daytime fresh juices are on offer. Orange for about 10p, mandarin/clementine for 20p.
The medina offers everything, from dried rose petals to the thuya wood ornaments, and sweets,but was the only place where I was groped and pestered.
And down the road from Djemaa el Fna (the Koutobia Mosque side) is a lovely hammam. Segregated times (so men go in the morning, and women in the afternoon). From Koutobia cross the main road as if you are going to Djemaa el Fna. Take the narrow side road, and follow it down. About 500m down on your left is the hammam. A very cheap, very interesting and relaxing experience.
The centre of Marrakech - you can't miss it.
After a morning trawling through KaDeWe and the other department stores, this was a real breath of fresh air. An excellent organic food market, with more besides, it gave me an early glimpse of the real Berlin and Berliners, strolling around on a late autumn afternoon. Highly recommended.
Open Thursdays & Saturdays
Prenzlauer Berg
If you like vintage clothes and accessories, you’ll love Amsterdam. The best places to go for second-hand bits and pieces are:
Noordermarkt: on Mondays the Noordermarkt in the Jordaan, one of Amsterdam’s most authentic areas, is filled with stalls selling vintage clothes and accessories like bags, shoes, belts and jewellery from the sixties, seventies and eighties.
Noordermarkt; tram 6, 7 or 10
Waterlooplein: More vintage shopping at the Waterlooplein, a ten minute walk from the Rembrandtplein, bustling with merchants six days a week. Definitely the place to go when you’re looking for leather jackets, fur coats, jeans, or home ware from grandma’s era.
Waterlooplein; metro 51, 53, 54 or tram 9
Zipper: If you’re more into indoor than outdoor shopping, one of the best places for fashionable vintage is Zipper. The checked blouses and oversized baseball shirts are men’s favourites, women like everything at Zipper.
Zipper; Huidenstraat 7, 1016 ER Amsterdam (0031-20-6237302) and Nieuwe Hoogstraat 10, 1011 HE Amsterdam (20 623 70353)
Laura Dols: A no-go area for men, but women will love this shop. You’ll enjoy browsing the dresses and skirts they sell at Laura Dols. From the thirties all the way up to the eighties; if Marilyn Monroe were still alive, she would be shopping here.
Laura Dols; Wolvenstraat 6-7, 1016 EM Amsterdam (20 624 9066)
I'm not a natural shopper, but positively enjoyed spending money in this emporium. Instead of piling high the usual tourist fare, they've given a lot of thought to what to stock, and how to present it. Very good value (without being cheap). If you're after a pan-cultural eclectic mix of home furnishings, jewellery and gifts then go and enjoy Peter Hoe's.
Chinatown; near Central Market; if you can find it, go to the (much larger) 2nd floor shop: No. 145 Jalan Tun H.S.Lee, 2nd Floor Lee Rubber Building. (Don't be put off - it looks a bit like a residential building!). Smaller shop: No. 2 Jalan Hang Lekir.
It's in an old warehouse building just off Brick Lane (Hanbury street) running on Sunday mornings. It's far less crowded than the nearby Spitalfields Market which was cut in half by a redevelopment and is now too crowded with too many identikit stalls. It's got craft/jewellery, clothes and food stalls (excellent Ethopian food as well as all the usual suspects). Lots of beautiful stuff from new designers and a few quirky and fashionista clothes stalls. Good world music CD stall. And the Big Chill bar/historic Shoreditch is just round the corner.Get there around 11-12am and it's not crowded. Lock up bikes securely.....
Truman Brewery, Hanbury Street off Brick Lane.Nearest Station/Underground Liverpool Street
Every morning this gorgeous piazza hosts a food market. I am not going to be able to do it justice. It is full of tomatoes, chillies, fruit, garlic, onions. But not as we know them. The bland unripe unseasonal rubbish that you find on the shelves of British supermarkets bears absolutely no relation to the stuff you can buy (for pennies) in Campo dei Fiori.
For a cheap lunch just come here early, buy a few tomatoes and some foccaccia, stuff them in your bag, and eat them at a Bernini fountain in nearby Navonna while laughing at the fessi (gullible ones) who have paid through the nose to eat tourist junk at the inauthentic cafes.
At Campo dei Fiori of course. Just north of the Jewish ghetto along the east bank of the Tiber
If you are bored with the hum drum that is wally world take the time on a Sunday to discover Spitalfields Market. Home to London's student fashion designers you may discover the new Stella McCarthy... Or come across the perfect retro furniture in the many 2nd hand shops.
Here you'll also find the most authentic Spanish Tapas, hams hanging from the ceiling and saw dust on the floor, bar in London.
Via a short walk through the bustling Brick Lane you will come across Columbia Road Flower market. An oasis amongst Tower Hamlets, it is great fun to get tangled up amongst the tree ferns and orchids. Possibly a perfect Sunday for those that love London.
Liverpool Street Station
www.spitalfields.org.uk/, www.eastlondonmarkets.com/crm-history.htm
A cracking microcosm of life in London - stalls selling things you never knew existed, from clothes to food to jewellery to furniture to art. stunning food served too, really cheap but authentic food from all over the world.
To get a taste of what London really is about, go to Camden Market.
Camden Town tube
If you want an early morning diversion on a Sunday 8 am til 2pm, columbia Road flower market is excellent, even for non-gardeners. Over the years new shops selling young designers' furniture, delicatessens and even a top cake shop, Treacle, have opened there, making it a great place to browse or meet... Warning though if you are taking small children - it is absolutely heaving and can be a bit daunting for a knee-high visitor.
Afterwards it is close enough to go to the Whitechapel art gallery, Spitalfields Market, Shoreditch or a curry in Brick Lane.
Columbia Road,
London
E2
Nearest underground Old Street (turn left outside, walk along Old Street, into Hackney Road then after 200 metres turn right into Columbia Road)
A street with bars, pubs, market stalls on the weekend and a wonderful neighbourhood feel. There are also opening up many lovely smalls shops, a specialist music shop and others.
Broadway Market, next to London Fields, in Hackney
Charming. The whole city life is going on there. Watch the pigeons, hear the voices of everyday life on the market, drink a coffee at on of many cafes, chat with your friends - enjoy your life!
The main point of the city - near to the railway station, bus staion etc.
If the massive stores like TopShop and H & M leave you overwhelmed, under-impressed, and wearing the same thing as everyone else, then Old Spitalfields Market is the place to go. Built in 1887 as a former food market, the Spitalfields building is now home to over 300 covered stalls manned by artisans and designers themselves. Open 7 days a week but Sunday is the best!
105a Commerical Street; by tube Liverpool Street station; by bus 8, 242, 149 and 67; www.visitspitalfields.com/
Make sure after you have mooched around Spitalfields and Brick Lane on a Sunday that you take the time to have a few drinks around Dray Walk, just off Brick Lane under the Truman Brewery. In the summer it is always buzzing and is a great place to people watch (or be watched).
There are open air BBQs at 1001 and gorgeous cocktails at the Big Chill. In winter it is quieter but still worth the effort. Just remember to wear your trendiest garments because the fashion stakes are set pretty high!
Dray Walk E1
www.bigchill.net
www.london-eating.co.uk/6566.htm
A quintessential Sydney institution is the Sydney fish markets in Pyrmont. If you're there over the weekend - go for lunch and have a look around the markets. Either you can buy a seafood platter there including a dozen oysters for $12 and a bottle of young Semillon and eat on the harbour side (beer battered snapper is ace) or buy some green king prawns and whatever else takes your fancy and head to a beach (Bondi or Coogee are good) spark up one of the barbies there and make you own seafood feast.
Pyrmont
Every Sunday the handicraft market is held on the (upper) Esplanade at St Kilda... this being the extension of the famous Acland Street. Melbourne has lots of weekend markets from Red hill to the Queen Vic (not forgetting all the suburban ones) but for position and variety, the Esplanade ones is tops.
The (upper) Esplanade St Kilda between Acland St and Fitzroy St, a short walk along Fitzroy St from the light rail station
A visit to Melbourne isn't complete without a quick (or extended) tour of the Viccy. All types of beautiful fresh food, and the sellers are legends. Have a jam donut and sit and listen to them.
This large, covered market sells all kinds of stuff that, if you’re not Brazilian, you probably will never have seen before. There are fruits from the Amazon region, for instance, that don’t even seem to have English names. Wandering past the stalls, you can see and smell eels, herbs, pineapples, salami, snails ... crammed together like a monument to the tastebuds.
Rua da Cantareira 306
The historical Sunday Market is now jammed in amongst the modern tiled buildings of communist Han Chinese Kashgar. This does little to detract from the amazing looking people peddling their wares and produce.
Every Sunday - start early. Can be difficult to track down the livestock market due to the fact that it recently moved and the ever present language barrier. Any good guide book should point you in the right direction.
A great place to have a ocean feast. Loads of different stalls selling a vast aray of seafoos from Tuna Sashimi to fries fish and chip to live oysters. As fresh as it gets. Choose a selection and sit outside by the bay with the gulls and pelicans. Great food great place to eat. Very cheap too.
This cobble stone street has easily the best window - and actual - food shopping anywhere in the world. The tiny shops, many of them with street stalls out in front all seem to have different specialities. Quite the most delicious street I know
Rue Cler, nearest Metro, nearest metro is Ecole Militaire
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