El Rastro – A Treasure Market
15.04.2019
We have already admitted we travel without preliminary notes and we mostly anticipate emotions. We therefore we often find ourselves in the centre of events that could win a prize, were we to share them as a short story (though they are not often proper enough for sharing in public). These happenings either make us laugh uncontrollably (as in San Miguel food market, when we first discovered we were practically broke), or bring tears to our eyes. Thank God, we have not yet cried during our trips, apart from George feeling heart-broken to find there was not a centimeter of luggage space to put the 30-ml bottle of Ginjinha liqueur and the set of thimble-size chocolate cups to serve it in. So now, while we are waiting for sour cherries to get ripe so that we can labour hard to produce a home-made liquor with a Portuguese taste, we’re going to share with you several stories – about everyday trivia, finances and fairy-tales, too – which happened during the two weeks we took 6 flights to two continental countries blessed with a rich, warm soul and a piece of an island coloured in 7 shades of green (1 for each day of the week).
We begin our tale with the atmosphere of a place that has its own website, but is not a restaurant, not a club, and not a hotel, either. It is a… flea market. Even if we had put in a lot of efforts to find accommodation close to it, we wouldn’t have been so lucky. As it is, for our two nights in Madrid, we had unknowingly chosen an old gallery in an equally old tiny alley in the “old town centre”, a mere five – to – twenty minutes’ walk to any of the iconic sights of the Spanish capital.
We arrived in Madrid at noon on Saturday and a little later at San Miguel suffered the shock of the first in a series of financial collapses, that left us convinced that we would have to live on water and possibly sugar until our return to Bulgaria and the glorious aftertaste of Portuguese Ginjinha in our mouths would be the only thing to help us survive. Having lost all hope, we decided to dine on … flamenco. We’re going to tell you in details about the fiery dance of the dancers from the Casa Patos tablao flamenco in “How to make more of Madrid in just one and a half days”
This morning massive noise made by huge excited crowds surrounded us. People flowed in joyful hustle and bustle up and down the main street that was just a few steps away from where we were staying. There was so much colour! A few more steps and we got carried away by the crowds and sounds of a Madrid on Sunday. All over the tiny streets crossing Calle Embajadores and Ronda de Toledo musicians were preparing their street stages.
Numerous stalls and tables on Plaza de Cascorro and along Calle de la Ribera de Certidores were heaped with hundreds of goods – used or new ones, vintage or modern, dirt cheap or pricey. The market welcomes everyone, as long as you like crowds and noise and your eyes don’t hurt from the chaos of colours, faces and altogether different worlds. For, at a four-century old market you may encounter not one world, not even two, but many more.
El Rastro is the most popular open-air market in Spain. Quite by chance we turn up in the heart of the market, on the exact day it opens, without any advance plans whatsoever of the convenient time and place. And having walked across the market, or at least attempted to, in our 3-hour exploratory walk, here is what we found… To be in Madrid and miss the day El Rostro is open is to only get a fraction of what being in Madrid is like. We discover many a curious item on the stalls, such as an old Bulgarian-made pepper grinder “Rodina” and the diafilm projectors of our socialist childhood, on which we could watch stories of aliens without being scared.
El Rastro means a path. This path must have been soaked in blood once, as this is the site of the first slaughter house that opened here in 1497. From a meat market to a market for processed leather and leather goods, candles or just second hand rubbish and antiques, what is remarkable about El Rastro is that it never changed its place. Imagine what an institution this market is – commercial, tourist and probably cultural, too, as for so many years it has attracted masses of people – locals as well as tourists. The Spanish like to hide away and relax in the early afternoon hours, but 9:00 a.m. on a Sunday is never “too early”. If you don’t fancy too many people brought together in one place, do what we did: We got lost in the narrow neighbouring streets and discovered a number of charming antique shops, some of them displaying their goods right on the pavement.
And if tomorrow we should plan another trip to Madrid, the plan will definitely include a Sunday there. We absolutely loved El Rastro. Every step we made aroused our curiosity. We don’t have that extreme passion for shopping, but we have a strategy of perspectives instead. These perspectives refer to various people creating various stories by means of their specific mannerisms. It is the moments that we love, and El Rastro is a treasury of moments, as it brings together so many people and emotions. From this flea market in Madrid I liked something for myself and George even invented a story about it. It is a summer story and not a short one. My El Rastro treasure is 3 meters of silk beautifully made into a long, rich Flamenco dress in passionate red and sea blue. It is a Spanish dress that I thought would dance by itself, even before I have put it on. So this is how we spent 15 euro to support local trade.
Some useful details: The market’s opening hours are 9:00 – 15:00. After 3 p.m. it just disappears in a flash! As well as on Sundays, it is also open on public holidays. Don’t be late as it is at its most colourful and vibrant in the morning; watch out for your purses and look for your treasures in this treasury dating back to 1740.
- I too have a treasure from El Rastro
- Did a Spanish lady catch your eye, George?
- A Spanish girl, yes. In a yellow raincoat!
Enjoy the atmosphere and get to know Madrid in its noise, hustle and bustle. Should you be looking for espadrilles, the little shop Calzados Lobo at Plaza de Segovia Nuevo will tempt you with over 40 colours. The price is 7 – 9 euros for the basic model. The shop doesn’t open on Sunday. Sunday is an El Rastro day.
