Mercado Central. The Central Market, Valencia

 The Mercado Central market in the heart of Valencia is Europe's largest fresh food market, and it made for an interesting morning exploring all the delicious fresh fruit and vegetables, fish, meats and cheeses, dried fruits and nuts, and even fresh snails that were on offer.

Everything looked fresh and inviting and we were tempted to buy some of the local produce to take back to our apartment to share with a bottle of Spanish Tempranillo. We chose some thinly sliced Serrano Jamon ham, some Manchego cheese, a small pack of mixed Spanish olives and some fresh cherry tomatoes.

Peter is also loving the fresh breads from the small bakeries on every street. I found some gluten free rice & quinoa cakes for myself. So tonight we will have our version of tapas, made by me, so that I am sure everything is safe for me to eat.

The market is housed in a beautiful building, highly decorated on all sides. As we were leaving we found a shop selling everything needed to cook paella, from small gas burners to enormous paella pans well over a metre across.