Markets aren’t supposed to have walls; rather cluttered open-air spaces with sheets of cheap plastic or scrap metal barely protecting the commerce below. That’s at least in my colored impression of them, mostly from Turkey but reaffirmed in places further away like Ecuador. Mercado de San Miguel in Madrid, Spain is really quite the opposite of that traditional term “market” but there’s a good reason for its modernity. Located in the middle of Madrid, Mercado de San Miguel was reborn in 2003 to pump some life into the city’s heart while concurrently boosting the local economy.
Originally opened in 1915 and left to die a death of neglect some years later, what breathes vigor into this modern version of market is variety. It’s not 33 vendors selling variations of similar dishes but a wave of Spanish cuisines so enticing the first hungry steps inside can have you frantically and un-decidedly bouncing from one end to the other. It’s almost not fair, especially when you stop by on a short visit from Valencia before heading to the airport as I did. Mercado de San Miguel nearly caused me to intentionally miss my flight altogether, I hadn’t even gotten around to the seafood after trying some caprichos de embutido, bastones de fuet (both types of dried sausage), and a glass of wine.
And the wine is what slows things down it seems for the hungry folks and plentiful tourists lounging in front of tubs of shrimp while occasionally being cooled down by automatic sprays of water mist. (There is no air conditioning inside which is a nice old-school market touch.) The prices too, are surprisingly economical when compared to eating out in the rest of Spain for food of such high quality – walls or not. The Mercado de San Miguel is open Monday-Thursday from 10am to midnight, and two hours longer the other days of the week.
You can see more pictures in my album from Madrid here.
This market sounds absolutely wonderful!!! If I’m ever in Spain- I definitely will check it out.
Mercado de San Miguel has a nice vibe and plenty to eat that is difficult to resist, definitely don’t miss it in Madrid!
Did you go here when you had your layover when going home from Valencia? So sad I missed out on this when we were stuck in the train station!
Yup 🙂 Julie and I were trying to get some work done but crappy McDonald’s wifi gave us a good reason to get out and explore. So glad it did – one of the few times I’ll support poor wireless 🙂
Mercado de San Miguel is one of the highlights of Madrid. They’ve since opened up two more similar “concept-markets” (???) in Madrid, one called San Anton in Chueca, and the other whose name escapes me is up near Bernabeu Stadium. Did you try any of the food there?
Unfortunately I didn’t in my quick stop there – but will keep it in mind for next time 🙂
The Sant Miguel market is an artificial place, there are plenty of placed to eat good tapas and drink great wine in Madrid… cheaper and original atmosphere! I love those dirty bars where the Spanish jamon is the king! I love Spanish pata negra ham, if you have tryed you love it… here some info about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jam%C3%B3n_ib%C3%A9rico
Last time I was in Barcelona I bought one leg and I make my friends the happiest!
Great blog Anil!
Thanks!
Thanks for the additional information, if you have any good tapas place you can recommend near San Miguel, feel free to let me know.