Spiddal Market, Connemara, Ireland

A couple of weeks ago I discovered a beautiful website called Exotic Markets (@Exoticmarkets) whose aim is to"capture the variety and color of food, flower, flea and other markets from around the world." It was a sweet find as I have a soft spot for markets in general. Taking a peek at appetizing photos ends up in boosting my creativity and my getting busy in the kitchen. Yes, it's all about being inspired and dreaming of new combinations and mixing up ingredients to (re)create new dishes. *drooling*
Most of the time I have itchy feet, that dreadful condition that makes you look up to the sky when you hear the roar of a plane overahead. But the best photos are the ones that you take yourself on site, maybe in your home country or abroad.

Cooking begins with a journey when at dawn the sellers set off to the market; maybe they travel for miles, or maybe the trip is short and sweet. Later they will carefully display the goods to appeal to the five senses, and especially to the hungry eye of the customer. No wonder self-help books always advise that one should never shop on an empty stomach :)

Prices were a bit high, as you would expect, but not as high as eating out, so if I had had access to a well-equipped kitchen, I would have definitely gone to the supermarket/the local market, stocked up on freshly picked fruit and veggies, and cooked my own meals. Like most things in life, you get what you pay for and in Spiddal market, the prices generally reflect the high quality of products.

Spiddal Village Market is in fact a baby market, if I can put it this way. It's tiny and it's open every Thursday. 19 km west from Galway City, Spiddal is your scenic, picture-postcard Connemara village. Don't be fooled by the sunny weather, apparently it rains a lot most of the year. The luck of the Irish, we were blessed with beautiful, warm weather!

All photos have been taken in May (2011) in Spiddal/Spiddal area so hopefully you'll get a feel of the place as well (and fall in love with it, as I have). xx

muffins, cupcakes and pies

home-made peanut butter, honey and other goodies

gourmet delights

gingerbread men :)

seaweed

a beautiful Connemara horse posing for the camera

organic home-made soap

a generous display of chutneys,  sustainable free-range eggs and Irish cheese

"Saving fish from drowning"

 freshly caught john dory

handmade Irish cheese

"MARKET RETURNS IN SPRING. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT. FRESH PRODUCE STILL AVAILABLE EVERY THURSDAY"

Spiddal pier

salsa

pottery and poetry :)

Spiddal...forget-me-not 

winding road...

Spiddal pier in the afternoon