Shopping in Madrid - El Rastro Market

El Rastro market in Madrid.

I am still enjoying my memories (and over 2000 photos) of last month's trip to Spain with my husband. We spent the first week in the Andalusia area (south) and enjoyed the wonderful beaches, historic venues and, of course, the markets. I previously wrote about these southern markets link to posting.

We also enjoyed shopping in Madrid - a huge, remarkably pedestrian-friendly city. One of the "Top Ten Madrid" is El Rastro, the most famous flea market in all of Spain.

El Rastro de Madrid or simply el Rastro is the most popular open air flea market in Madrid (Spain). It is held every Sunday and public holiday during the year and is located along Plaza de Cascorro and Ribera de Curtidores, between Calle Embajadores and theRonda de Toledo (just south of La Latina metro station).

A great variety of products (new and used) can be found at el Rastro. A number of antique shops in the local area are also open on Sunday. link to article

Shopping at the Market - I bought one of these lovely scarves - a wonderful deal!

We happened to be in the city on a Sunday so, like 1000's of others, walked over - it was less than two miles from our apartment's Austrias neighborhood (near Royal Palace).

The weather was sunny and slightly cool - perfect for this kind of activity. We discovered that a LOT of people thought the same thing - it was a very crowded but largely respectful event. We had been warned that this is a place to be on the lookout for pick-pockets and thieves but didn't sense or observe any danger or shenanigans.

I bought two of these lovely bracelets and decided to keep both. The inserts are not stones but beans - how clever.

I found many, many reasonable items and added to my gift and souvenir inventory.

Classical Musicians at the Market.

Shoppers at El Rastro Market

Here's an interesting side-note: The word "rastro" means "trail" and refers to the animal innards that were once dragged through this ancient working-class street. (from DK Eyewitness Travel).  

I ended up buying a number of things - mostly in set so twos. Most people were willing to bargain but only if you bought more than one item - so that is what I did.  

This is a great market with some excellent prices - I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting the area! 

Shopping the Markets in Southern Spain

Near market entrance in Southern Spain

My husband, Tim, and I just returned from a wonderful two-week trip to Spain - a country we had just barely skimmed over 25 years ago when we briefly visited Barcelona. This trip was split into two parts - the first part in a time-share in the Andalusia (southern Spain) area and the second part in an apartment in central Madrid. Both parts were exceptional and I am in the midst of sorting and editing over 2500 photos in order to create two travel journals - this may take a while.

Tim is a good shopping companion

One of the great things about visiting southern Spain (Malaga Area) are the HUGE outdoor markets held in different cities/towns every day of the week. We spent several sunny, warm hours at a market not far from the city of Malaga (Arroyo de la Miel). I did most of my souvenir/gift shopping at this market and wished I had a reasonable way to buy and ship more items.

I found a number of items that were particularly well priced and a willingness to "haggle", particularly if you were buying more than one item from a seller. Not surprisingly, I ended up with "twos" of many things.

Here are some photos of this day at the market. I am sure I will come up with more "Spain" postings and probably more "shopping" postings as well!  This is a lovely area!

Nice rugs and textiles

Floral stands - these were prices at 2.5 to 3.0 euros - not bad!

The ceramics were beautifully done - very tempting but I didn't want the burden of hauling these.

Look at the great price on these oranges! 

I bought one of these necklaces - it may go my sister for her recent birthday! 

I loved these little purses and bought one for each of my granddaughters . 

I REALLY loved these textiles and the price was pretty good. I had no way of getting them home however.

Shopping - it was a lot of fun!