Markets in Athens

One of my favorite ways to get to know a place is to visit their food markets - especially the farmer's markets and the central markets.  I love visiting the Mercado Sao Jose in Recife and wanted to see wat the market in Athens is like.  So - one of the days my dad was here, we checked out the markets.





On the way to the central market, we came across the farmer's market that sets up in front of the neighborhood church.  It was about 2 blocks long with lots of vendors.









The produce was amazing!  Mainly fruits and vegetables,

but there was also a nut and honey stall and some plant / herb stalls.















Then we headed to the Athens Central Market.  It's located near the Monastiraki Flea Market and surrounding it has lots of other stores selling various things.

We passed a store selling bridles and bells for goats.  And a store with lots of containers - glass bottles for olive oil and olives and wine - a huge variety - tin, glass, etc.

At the entrance to the meat section are shops selling dried fruits and candies.






The market is set up in a big hall that's open at the ends.  One long line is meats, and then there's a cross part with chickens and then another section for fish.

Warning - some of the photos below may be too much reality for some.

At the beginning of the meat section, they had baby chickens for sale.















And then the meat section began.  There were many, many stalls with skinned lambs (it's the Greek Easter weekend) to take home.

The folks there would butcher it for you - they did amazing things with their big butcher's cleavers.

Then there was the poultry and variety meat section. 

You could get a variety of offal (organs, etc.)

And there were also intestines for making sausage.

Then we checked out the fish section.  

The fish were just beautiful - so fresh and a huge variety.  

And of course there were the octopus that Greek cooking is so famous for.