El Grao Market

This isn't just any market, but the most traditional in Valencia, since the Mercado del Grao is the city's oldest, although it now looks like the newest after its comprehensive remodeling in 2023.   

It was built in 1902 with a modernist design by the architect Rafael Alfaro, in the heart of Grau, to serve the residents of the neighborhood and the traffic generated by the port. 

Like every great building, it has gone through different phases throughout its history, from its initial splendor as the most modern in Valencia, through its reconstruction after the great flood of 1957, to a decline that had to be put right. 

Today it retains the industrial air that characterized it, but with a more open concept, the goal being to turn it into a place that energizes neighborhood life and serves as a place to meet and sample food. As well as to buy quality fresh products, of course. 

In the Mercado del Grao, there are stands for meat, fruits, vegetables, chicken, eggs, bakery and pastry, organic products, salted foods, fish, groceries, charcuterie and delicatessen. And since a municipal market is expected to provide a place for the people who visit it to have a good time and hang out, it also has a bar and cafeteria. 

A bonus of the Grau Market is the fare that's available around it; for example, there's the El Clavo Tavern, which occupies the premises of an old hardware store where the furniture has been preserved. 

Also close to the market are the Bodega La Peseta and the Taberna del Grao, which are creating, almost without trying, an ideal tapas area to eat, have a snack or a colossal brunch. 

Going to the Cabañal neighborhood and walking through its modernist streets was already appealing; now, with the Mercado del Grao and the life that sprung up around it, it's even more so.