The Lisbon Connection

Near the Cais do Sodre train station, on the other side of the road, you will see the beautiful building of the Mercado do Ribeira (market near the river, since 1882), topped with a Moorish-style dome.

Open: daily 05:00 - 14:00. Closed on Sundays. Address: Avenida 24 de Julho

The cities biggest open food market is selling everything: from inky octopus and fresh seafood to fabulous fruit, from real Portugese products like ‘hot’ piri-piri to funeral flowers waiting for a dead body…..

This is Lisbon’s cheapest market. The seafood forms a large part of the Portugese diet with 1001 ways to cook it. Bacalhau is the Portugese name for cod, a very popular fish, so much that they have a different bacalhau recipe for each day of the year!

In 2007 the market celebrated a 125 year of existence: beautiful pictures are on the walls from fish sellers (varinas) of the Ribeira Market from a hundred years ago, when the fishermen moored their ship here to sell the fresh fish.

On Sunday mornings there is a Collectors fair from 09:00-14:00. The 2nd floor of the market has also been converted into a touristy ‘cultural’ centre. It sells locally produced items such as port and honey, and handicrafts. Website http://www.espacoribeira.pt/