Mercado de la Ribera - fresh fish, great vegetables and lots of fun!

Make sure to put some time aside to see the indoor Market Place of Bilbao. El Mercado de la Ribera is the largest in Europe – more than 10.000 square meters of food market under one roof.

You can’t get any further than this from a super market. It’s like being taken into a time machine. If you want to experience what it felt like going to a market 100 years ago, come here! Everything is fresh. There are people everywhere. It’s noisy and for an organized Swede it seems chaotic – but it is great fun! What an experience.

On the lower ground you find the fish market. Wow! There is fish as far as the eye can see. Lobsters, shrimps, octopus, all you can ask for, and more. The smell is … fishy. Get ready to hold your breath and enjoy the variety.

I wouldn’t know how to prepare most of this, but the Basques are specialists at fish dishes. With giant knives the fish mongers chop the chosen fish in desired sizes.
Many Bilbainos do their shopping here, especially Saturday mornings when it is jam packed. The locals know that the fish is fresher and much cheaper than in the supermarket.

Go up to the next floor and you are up for another pleasant surprise
I didn’t realize vegetables could be so beautiful. It’s like a sea of colors - orange pumpkins, lettuce in all shade of greens, red onions… once again, all garden-fresh, brought to the city straight from the local farmers.

On the second floor you find the vegetables, meat, cheese and even escargots (a finer name for edible snails).

Don’t hesitate for ask for advice if you need cooking suggestions. The vendors or your fellow shoppers will be more than delighted to share their best cooking tips with you. People have time to talk here.

Escargots are a delicatessen that require a lot of work to prepare; they have to be cleaned thoroughly and cooked. But once on the plate they are delicious. Just be sure they don’t escape, have a close look at the photo and you might see that they are all alive and very alert.

How to get to the Marcado de la Ribera: The Market Place is situated in Casco Viejo (the old town) along the river. You can easily get here by tram. Get off at the tram stop “Mercado de la Ribera”.

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