I love to visit farmers’ markets!\u00a0 I enjoy the colors, the friendly people and, of course, the chance to buy some top quality fresh foods.\u00a0 The entire experience lends itself to photography and exploration.<\/p>\n

While in Krakow we visited two markets, both very good but very different in character.\u00a0 The larger of these, ‘Hala\u00a0Targowa<\/strong>,’ is considered to be the city’s best outdoor market and is the one we’ll look at today.<\/p>\n

During weekdays in the summer and fall,\u00a0 it’s a typical farmers market.\u00a0 Our visit was on a Friday in early October and the produce offerings reflected the season.\u00a0 There were lots of excellent plums, a large variety of monstrous apples, a few pears and lots of root vegetables.\u00a0 There were some items here I’d never seen at other markets, including sunflower heads (not just the seeds, but the entire fruiting structure), and the largest variety of wild mushrooms I’ve seen anywhere — probably 9 or so different types.\u00a0 I was amazed at how inexpensive everything was.\u00a0 In most Western European cities the prices you see posted would be in Euros, but in Poland they’re zloty<\/em> (currently about 4 zloty to 1 US$)<\/p>\n

The market also featured several smaller enclosed shops where you’ll find butchers and seafood vendors, as well as clothing and shoe shops, flower vendors and the like.\u00a0 There aren’t nearly as photogenic as the outdoor markets but certainly are practically for the colder weather that lies ahead.<\/p>\n

On Sunday the market morphs into an outdoor flea market where you\u2019ll find lots of antique items including books, postcards, paintings, Catholic icons, pirated DVDs and wristwatches, and a variety of junk.\u00a0\u00a0 Never got to visit on Sunday, but I bet it would be fun.<\/p>\n

And some sights from the Krakow market….<\/p>\n\n\n\n \t