Country Article / Postcards

Buyer Beware of Barcelos

Date: 03/15/2005

Dear International Living Reader,

Buy a guidebook about northern Portugal and you're sure to come across mention of Barcelos and its weekly Feria (market). You'll be urged to go there. Held on Thursdays, it's said to be the country's largest outdoor market. From daybreak until late afternoon, hundreds of stalls set up on the Campo de Feria, an immense square in the center of this small Minho region town.

I hate to sound downbeat, but unless you're shopping for metal buckets, it's probably not worth going out your way for. My guidebook promised me row upon row of village women squatting behind baskets of their own produce...whole avenues of ducks and rabbits...yokes for oxen...unusual regional handicrafts. Maybe Barcelos was like that when the author originally visited, but it must have been a good while ago.

I walked every inch of the market and didn't see a single duck or rabbit. In fact, the only thing remotely resembling livestock were on a pet stall--goldfish and budgerigars. I did spy one old lady with a basket of walnuts, but most fruit and vegetables are sold from ordinary market stalls. Certainly there are people proffering country cheeses and sausages, but rope-sellers and saddle-makers are about all that remains from its days as a genuine country market. Barcelos is now basically where to go for mass-produced clothes and shoes--and much of the stuff looks shoddy. You can actually find cheaper goods in the streets radiating around Porto's Praca Batalha.

Around the market's central fountain, you'll find ceramic roosters and plaster-cast monks with gross appendages poking out from under their robes. I guessed these must be the celebrated regional handicrafts. Can't tell you what the monks represent, but the roosters illustrate the legend of a miraculous cockerel which had already been cooked. Apparently it arose from a judge's dining table to crow the innocence of a pilgrim who'd been wrongly accused of theft.

Contemplating these garish objects, I felt like the guidebook writer had stolen my time. I certainly felt no urge to buy anything. And I doubt you will either…

Steenie Harvey
Roving Euro-editor, International Living

Editor’s Note: Steenie Harvey, IL’s roving Euro-editor, has a well-earned reputation for speaking her mind...and giving you her honest opinion, good and bad. She found Barcelos disappointing. Ah...but beyond Barcelos, she made much more charming discoveries--including the best place to look for a dazzling abundance of fresh flowers, fruits, and vegetables even in mid-winter... what to order for dinner if you crave an authentic meal...and where to find Europe’s best gothic bookshop, Livraria Lello & Irmao, in Porto. Details are included her full report, featured in this month’s print edition of International Living, available for paid subscribers.