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World markets

Wherever you go in the world, you find shops and stores – but you can find wonderful markets in most cities, too. Here's a selection from five different countries.

1. The Spice Bazaar in Istanbul is popular with both tourists and people from Istanbul. There are lots of shops and stalls and they all sell many different kinds of spices, sweets or nuts. You can buy spices from a lot of countries (like Iran, China, Russia and of course Turkey), and the smells and colours are amazing.

2. Klong Lat Phli (Plee) is a very unusual market about 80 kilometres south of Bangkok, Thailand. Early every morning, hundreds of local people sell fruit and vegetables from their boats on the canals. It’s not the only boat market in the country but it’s a very popular tourist one.

3. Do you like fish? Then the Tsukiji(Tskeejee) Market in Tokyo is the right place for you. It is the biggest seafood market in the world, and it never closes! It’s very busy between the hours of 4.00 and 5.00 am, when people from the shops and restaurants in Tokyo buy the fresh fish that they need for the day. It is also very popular with tourists, but they can only visit the market later in the day, after the early morning buying and selling.

4. In Madrid there is a famous open-air market called El Rastro, which is open on Sunday mornings. There are over 1,000 stalls that sell many different things: books, CDs, paintings, antiques – beautiful old things. One of the streets sells only animals and birds. And of course visitors can stop to eat ‘tapas’ and get something to drink, and there are many street musicians with their guitars making music too.

5. Portobello Road market in London is popular with tourists and with Londoners, too. You can find all kinds of bargains here. The market (in Notting Hill) has five different parts and you can buy new or second-hand things (like clothes) as well as fruit and vegetables, and antiques. It’s very busy at the weekend.