Toddling Off To The Tolosa Market…

Tolosa Saturday Market – White Arched Building Sitting on the banks of the Oria River…

We Hounds are a wee bit passionate about exploring our local markets, and we have ticked many market boxes since arriving in Hondarribia, Spain in June 2015. But one that stubbornly still remained on our ‘to do’ list was the Saturday Tolosa Market, which many Basque foodie mates of ours had vociferously said was a ‘must do’. So we mustered ourselves out of a comfortably warm bed @ 7AM, piled into Gertie the Land Rover & bounced & jounced our way to the town of Tolosa (which, BTW, is rather infamous for being the home of the Elósegui Basque beret, of which I am a proud owner).

Market Madness…Shopping Ops Galore!

Market’s Kicking Off Early Saturday Morning…

And our Basque foodie mates where damn right – this is a sweet market. Not too big, not too small, not at all limited in its products on offer – just a perfect balance of all the things (in season) you’d be looking for to make a meal or fully stock your pantry. It is called the ‘mercado del tinglado’ which roughly translates to the ‘shed market’, with the actual shed being constructed on this site in 1898 (the market has been going in Tolosa for yonks).

Tolosa Scenes: Top Left – Market; Crazy Vino Man; Lettuce Seedlings; Market & River Reflection

Yum – Fresh Figs In Season & At Their Peak; Shiny Carrots; and Sweet Cauli…..

While Hound #2 got into the thick of it right off the bat at the very first stall with several purchases (including PERFECT aubergines – 3 for a euro…deal!), I decided to have a good squizzy of the market hall & inspect all of the vendors for potential purchases. Well, everything looked spectacular – and awesomely cheap. We were most impressed with the cheese stalls – lots of variety (many Basque market cheese stalls seem to sell the exact same cheese or minor variations on a theme) and prices to beat the band. A quarter slice of a beautiful, creamy blue which we thought would set us back €5 only rang the bell @ €2.7!

Hound #2 was on the prowl for late season figs (see picture above) & voilà! A single stall was in possession of 4 magic trays (at €2.5 a tray) of perfectly ripe figs – score! Something good & tasty will come of that I am sure…

Cheese Galore; Local Special Beans; Chorizo!!!

And folks we are knee deep into prime fungi season here in the Basque Country, with most of the hills covered in woods of various tree species providing the perfect spawning grounds for this epicurean delicacy. They were here in all shapes & sizes & flavours (and prices)…completely hand foraged.

It’s Mushroom Season Folks!!!

Market Scenes…

And after some very busy shopping, a cafe con leche & sweet treat were called for…we were pointed (by several stall holders) to the Solana.4 cafe, smack dab adjacent to the market buzz. And once again our Basque advice was spot on – the best cup of java we have had in a while and pastries stuffed to the gills with deep, dark chocolate. Excelente!

Caffeine Stop @ Solana.4 – Estupendo Coffee!

And now that we know about the Tolosa Market, we will mos def be back…even if it is just for the coffee!