Our very nice veg man who I usually buy from. His stock is always fresh and in good condition - and I occasionally have some chillis, apples or whatever in lieu of small change!
There are two market days in Elhovo – Saturday is the big market which has a bazaar selling clothing and other goods as well as the inevitable chickens and livestock which form a part of all Bulgarian open air markets – bu there is also a market on Wednesday which is exclusively for fruit and veg.This is a local market for local people, not a tourist exercise, and fruit and veg here is brought into town by those who have grown, dried and otherwise nurtured it – so it is very seasonal – don’t expect to see out of time imports here.
And when Bulgarians grow something they grow it in bulk! Tomatoes and cabbages are high on the list, and seeing the size of some of the cabbages makes you wonder just what they think of to DO with it all!Ditto the tomatoes; whatever your preference in size, type or stage of ripeness, there’s one to suit everyone.
It’s pepper season at present (as well as tomatoes) so I went for a wander with my trusty Olympus to photograph nature’s bounty. Just look at this van full of peppers!
Bulgarians typically grow and bottle/preserve a lot of food to supplement low incomes, and it never fails to amaze me how some of the grannies manage to carry the huge bags of veg around. People always talk about the presence of mafia in Bulgaria, but never mind them, they are only in casinos – I reckon the grannies here are pretty hard!
I hope you enjoy the snaps, more next week of the big Saturday market.
Ciao for now.
