Les Marchés d’Aix-en-Provence: Place Richelme and Places des Comtales

If I’m going to make a trip to a fresh air market and back in the mornings before class at 9 am, I better figure out their locations and the quickest route to each.

The Place Richelme market is a food market that is open every day from 8 am to 1 pm.  It is 750 meters or about half a mile from the Aparthotel Adagio.  You take Rue des Chartreux north to Rue Celony, turn right and continue to Rue Van Loo where you turn right.  You continue on Rue Van Loo, crossing Cr. Sextius, where Van Loo becomes Rue des Cordeliers.  You continue on that, passing Le Fournil des Cordeliers bakery until Rue Maréchal Foch where you make another right before the Halles aux Graines, at the far corner of which is the Virgin Mary, watching over the tourists in the Place Richelme, although this is just a food market so there might not be many.  We might have to make a pit stop at the Amorino gelato shop back on the corner of Rue des Cordeliers and Rue Maréchal Foch.  Won’t the boys be happy!

The Route from Aparthotel Adagio to Place Richelme

At the south side of Place Richelme is the Fontaine Sanglier, one of the many fountains in Aix.  The sanglier is the local wild pig and if you want to return to Aix, remember that you need to rub its tusks!  There are several bakeries around here:  Boulangerie Paul, Le Pain Quotidien, Maison Saint-Honoré; also several others that concentrate on patisserie.  After the market hours, cafés set up tables and chairs in the Place Richelme.  I should also mention that there is a flower market just north of Place Richelme in the Place de l’Hotel de Ville on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

A larger food market takes place in Places des Comtales on the Aix market days of Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.  It is the combined markets of Place des Prêcheurs and Place de Verdun near the Palais de Justice.  These markets are just a few blocks further on from the Place Richelme.  Exit the southeast corner of Place Richelme and take Rue Mejanes south to Rue Chaudronniers, make a left then a slight right onto Rue Monclar.  Follow Rue Monclar around the Palais de Justice to the market on Place de Verdun.

Route from Place Richelme to Place de Verdun

And that is where the food markets are.  On Cours Mirabeau they have a flea and crafts market on the Market Days (Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  They also have an Arts & Crafts Market at the top of Avenue Victor Hugo and Rue Thiers by the Palais de Justice.

Mercados and Supermercados

Mercados

Mercado Santa Cruz

In 2015, the New York Times featured Lima in one of its 36 Hours and recommended walking along the Malecón, a 3 mile promenade on the cliffs above the ocean.  If our guide takes us to the Parque del Amor, we could keep on walking north along Malecón Cisneros and Malecón de la Marina, all the way up to the Mercado Municipal "Santa Cruz".  Of course, by walking along the Malecón there won't be any window shopping but the views should be spectacular, as long as it isn't a foggy day, which is how, I hear, Lima gets all its precipitation.

There is a Peruvian, Roberto Viajero Vlogs, who has YouTube videos on the various markets, including Santa Cruz and also the Gran Mercado Mayorista de Lima which is a wholesale market like Corabastos in Bogotá and Central de Abasto in Mexico City.  The Gran Mercado Mayorista has loads of different kinds of potatoes.

Mercado 1 de Surquillo

A market closer to the Casa Andina Select hotel is Mercado #1 de Surquillo, a permanent indoor market, to the northeast of the hotel on the other side of the Via Expresa Paseo de la Republica.  We would walk east on Calle Schell and then turn left (north) on Avenida La Paz, walk 5 blocks to Ave Ricardo Palma, turn right (east) and cross the Via Expresa to Avenida Paseo de la Republica, turn left (north) and go about a block.  That's not too far, is it?  Roberto Viajero Vlogs in his Youtube video says that Surquillo is favored by chefs for ingredients they can't get elsewhere.  Our fast-talking Peruvian chef, Luciano Mazzetti, even has a YouTube video on Surquillo, although he is more interested in the food stalls than he is in the produce.

Lulú

However Luciano does try a lulú, which is not a lulo (also called naranjillo, related to a tomato and common in Colombia) but a small granadilla or passion fruit that is a bit more acidic than the larger sweeter granadilla.  I've tried to look up the scientific name but have had no luck.  We'll have to keep an eye out for it.  In the same segment Luciano tries Panky, (tuna verde in the supermarkets?) which is a cactus fruit high in vitamin C and obviously very sour so it is mainly used in juices.

Cocona

If we are lucky we might be able to find the cocona, Solanum sessiliflorum, which is related to the lulo that you find in Colombia.  It belongs to the same family as potatoes and tomatoes but grows in the Amazon rainforest rather than in the Andes.  We might have better luck finding the cocona in Iquitos and maybe the Explorama Lodges will offer some for breakfast, or at least its juice as many of these tropical fruits are too acidic and seedy to eat straight.

Lúcuma

I should also mention the lúcuma, a very popular Peruvian fruit that smells like butterscotch and that they make into ice cream.  We shouldn't have troubles finding that in Lima.  If you watch this AgroTV video about a lúcuma grower, you will see that lúcuma is not a jungle fruit but is grown along the coast in very dry conditions and belongs to the Zapote family (so it can grow in California!  Here's a video to show you how.).  Remember how the zapote that grew in Fillmore was custard-like without any acidity?  I imagine that is how lúcuma tastes.

Supermercados

We can also check out the fruits at the local supermarkets in Lima.  Sam and Audrey pay a visit to the Wong Supermarket in Miraflores and show us that we can get mate de coca in tea bags to help us with our altitude sickness.  They also have rotisserie chicken ready to go as well as tamales (in banana leaves) and humitas (in corn husks) -- does the hotel have a microwave?  We can wash it all down with Inka Cola.  And then for dessert we can pick up some lucuma ice cream and a box of alfajores!

Do you think I dare bring home some jars of Peruvian chile pastes?  Or some of their packets of instant sauces like Huancaina and Ocopa?  That way you don't see that they are made with evaporated milk and saltines, unless you still have to add those ingredients to the mix...
Perusing the fruits and vegetables on the Wong Supermarket website, everything looks pretty much the same as the U.S. except you can also get granadillas, aguaymanto (uchuvas/ground cherries), maracuyá, papaya, olluco (one of those Andean root vegetables),  yuca, caigua (an Andean vegetable that they stuff), mango, chirimoya, pepino melon (Solanum muricatum from the Andes), lúcuma, and the list goes on and on.  The meats, poultry and fish look the same as in the U.S. except you can get sangrecita.  Hm.  I wonder if they have hot foods to go!

London Markets

Spitalfields Market

I find myself starting posts and then I move on to something else without finishing them.   I was looking at Visit London's Top 12 Markets so that if we are in a specific neighborhood we can stop by and see what they have.  I just have to remember that many of them are only alive on weekends.

The Eyewitness Travel Guide on London says:  "Even if you're not looking for cut-price cabbages or a silk sari, it's worth paying a visit to one of London's crowded, colorful markets."

Spitalfields.  What a name!  Spitalfields was an immigrant community in East London that you can read more about in BBC Travel, host to first the Huguenots, then the Irish during the Potato Famine, then Eastern European Jews and finally Bangladeshis.  There is an old Victorian covered market hall here: Old Spitalfields Market which is open daily.  Brick Lane Market is another market in the Old Truman Brewery in the same vicinity (the East End) but it is only open on Saturday and Sunday.

Portobello Road Market

Portobello Road Market is north of Chelsea and is mainly known for its antique market on Saturday, although they have fruits and vegetables and other things as well.  They say the antiques market is centered around the Notting Hill underground station.  There is also a Notting Hill Farmers Market on Saturday, opening at 9 am.  I don't suppose we could rush out and shop before we go see the sights?  The London Farmers' Markets website has a list of such produce markets.  I'm going to have to buy a foldable grocery cart.

First Saturday in London:  Walk up to Earls Court Station (16 minutes) and then take the tube up to Notting Hill Station (5 minutes) and walk up Portobello Road to Ackham Village Market.  The stretch along Portobello Road is about a mile.  A lot of the reviews on TripAdvisor found it too touristy and overpriced although others liked it so this excursion is tentative.  TripAdvisor has a ranking for Flea and Street Markets that puts Portobello Road at #41 in Shopping (with 3,608 reviews) and Borough Market at #1 (with 10,123 reviews).  Maybe I'd prefer Borough market anyway because it is a food market rather than a flea market, and from the looks of the Portobello Road Market it would take hours to get through the crowds.

Borough Market

Borough Market
This one is located south of the Thames near London Bridge and might be too upscale for me from the looks of things, sort of like the San Francisco ferry building market.  According to the Rough Guide "Prices are high and Saturdays can be a crush; arrive early." The full market is operational from Wednesday to Saturday but it is a long way from Chelsea.  The closest tube station to the market is London Bridge but we'd have to walk up to Earls Court to take it.  At the Transport for London Plan a Journey website, they recommend taking the #14 or #414 bus to South Kensington Station and then taking two lines to the London Bridge Station for a total travel time of 50 minutes.  Or we could walk there, seeing the sites along the route, arriving in about 2 hours...

Eat Rome

I bit the bullet and bought the Elizabeth Minchilli app called Eat Rome, even though it didn't have any ratings.  Few of the other Rome guides had ratings either so I guess that isn't unusual.  I'm using Eat Rome to explore the area around the apartment on Via Napoli and then I'll go further afield.  Here are a couple of reviews that sounded interesting.

Castroni is a gourmet food store that has both Italian and international products.  They have a store at Via Nazionale 71 but that particular one doesn't have a website.  The largest one is supposed to be at Via Cola di Rienzo 196/198 which is located near the Vatican, not too close to us.  However they are supposed to have a nice selection of teas so maybe I can get that double strong English tea that I picked up in Paris.

Open Colonna is the less expensive eatery of Antonello Colonna, one of Italy's best loved chefs.  It is located on top of the Palazzo degli Esposizioni on Via Milano near Via Nazionale.  Eat Rome says they have a fixed priced lunch for 15 euros but a 2014 posting on Spotted by Locals says: "There aren’t many people that know that from Tuesday to Friday there is a promotion called City Lunch only at lunch time. During City Lunch for only 16 euros (beverages not included water is € 2.50) it’s possible to eat exquisite dishes of great quality, sitting in a beautiful modern structure made of glass, but if the weather is nice there is also a balcony."  The restaurant's website is quite uninformative and I haven't run across any Italian restaurant website that lists prices.  And Minchilli's app is equally vague:  almost all the restaurants she mentions are marked with 2 or 3 euros but I can't find the price range of those ratings.  I haven't run across a 1 euro listing yet.

Unfortunately Minchilli doesn't list much near the apartment and when she gets towards Termini station she talks about stumbling over drunks to reach the door of a Chinese restaurant called Food & Beverage.  She does have some interesting listings in other parts of the city, like Chiostro del Bramante, a 15th century cloister near the Piazza Navona that has a caffeteria, although Spotted by Locals calls it a Tea Room.  The Cloisters contain a painting of the Sybils by Rafael whom we perhaps should call by his Italian name: Raffaello.

As I keep referring back to Spotted by Locals, I notice that they have an app as well.  It covers 50+ cities and is free.  Oh wait, it's not.  Just the index of the 50+ cities is!!  The Spotted by Locals Rome Guide is $3.99, just like Eat Rome was, so I'll think about it.  Most of the restaurants will probably seem expensive to us so if I can find some good places to buy cheese and bread and fruit, I'll be happy.

Nuovo Mercato Esquilino is the market by the Termini station that caters to the immigrant population, especially Indians and east Asians.  Minchilli says there are few Italian vendors here but the prices of the fresh produce can't be beat.  Spotted by Locals also has an article on it but calls it Mercato Vittorio and places it at Via Principe Amedeo, 285, instead of 184.  Is it the same one?  It sure sounds like it!  This posting from Minchilli's blog explains the reason behind the two names, Piazza Vittorio being the previous location for it.  Now the market is indoors in a large hall which perhaps extends from #184 to #285...  It's open from 6:00 to 14:00 so we should be able to get some early grocery shopping in before we go see the sights.  On the other hand, Minchilli in her app says 7 am to 3 pm but on her blog (2011) says 5 am to 3 pm.  The Rome Digest says 7:30 am to 2 pm...

Mercati

You didn't expect me to ignore the markets, did you?

Here's a site for the Markets of Rome: MarketsofRome.com.  And if you like, there is an Italian version: Mercati di Roma.  I'm not sure what will be available in November but it is the Mediterranean so I have high hopes.

There is the Mercato Trionfale, just north of Vatican City, so we can go visit that when we get bored with the Pope.  It moved to Via Andrea Doria in 2009 and is now housed in an indoor complex which is is a 10-minute walk from Ottaviano metro station.  It is open every day but Sunday (7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday and Friday).  The Parla Food blog has a posting on it from February 2012 and Katie Parla has a Youtube Video on the Trionfale area as well.

Campo dei Fiori
Dennis Callan of the Hawaiian Geographical Society has a video about the early morning market at Campo dei Fiori, in case you are an early riser.

As for Supermercati, here are 5 rules for shopping in them.

Put on the protective gloves for selecting your fruits and vegetables (don't touch the vegetables in the open air mercati!)

Weigh your fruits and vegetables and label them with the price

Bag your own groceries

Bags aren't free so bring your own...

Line cutting is permitted (especially if you are a little old lady with only a few items...Like us??)

Access Italy has some more tips on supermarket shopping.

Other quirks and useful things to know are

1.  Some enormous Italian supermarkets will charge you 1 Euro for a cart.  Update: it seems the carts are chained together and you need to deposit a coin to get one loose,  Then when you return it, you get your euro back.  Aceess Italy says the cart is a carrello.  I'm assuming these are only in the large supermarkets with parking lots.
2. An etto is 100 grams or a little more than 3 ounces.  So we could say tre etti for about 10 ounces -- or maybe that is too much salami for 3 people.  Maybe due etti would be a better quantity.

Les Halles - the Belly of Paris

"Les Halles, the centuries-old central Parisian food market, was banished from the city to the suburb of Rungis in the late 1960s and early '70s, its beautiful old iron pavilions pulled down; a soulless modern shopping mall later took its place.  When the first half of Les Halles was shut down and relocated in the early 70s' (the rest following soon after), the bistros of the quarter were struck hard; their livelihood depended almost exclusively on the business generated by the market community.  Of those hundreds of bistros, only a few survive today,"
In the Saveur article "The Belly of Paris" (2007) Megan Wetherall reminisces, provides history and a lot of bistro tales as well as recommending Chez Clovis, Chez Denise and Aux Tonneaux des Halles, a bistro situated just behind the church of St-Eustache on the cobbled old market street of rue Montorgueil.
Don't you think we have to try one of them....The haricot de mouton—a bread-crumb-topped casserole of tender lamb and succulent white bean at Chez Denise sounds awfully good.

Le Baron Rouge, 1, rue Theophile Rossel, 12th

Wine? You ask about wine. Take a look at this place - open Tues-Sunday, 10 am to 6 pm.

This wine bar and bistro with nine yards of character is located behind the covered Beauvau market, just off place d'Aligre. It's a source of wine en vrac, that is, from the barrel, which buyers carry away in their own bottles or in a plastic container called a cubitainer. This colorful place has the cracked tile floors, mustard-colored walls, and ancient zinc bar that virtually define the word bistro. A dozen different red and white wines are available for tasting. Get a glass of Sancerre or Beaujolais to go with your veal sausage and pan-roasted potatoes, and you'll stop thinking about restaurants with Michelin stars.

On weekend mornings during the season, a truck pulls up to the curb with oysters from Brittany, and soon the feasting begins, spilling out into the street. For 5 or 6 euros you get half a dozen shucked oysters and a basket of brown bread and butter. Buy a glass of wine at the bar inside and find a place to eat at one of the barrels on the sidewalk, or on the hood of a parked car. There is likely to be a brass band, singing, dancing in the street, and general merriment.

Markets of Paris by Dixon and Ruthanne Long