The Mercado Municipal, two blocks inland from the seafront, is Mindelo's covered fruit, vegetable, and dry-goods market: a single tall colonial-era hall with iron columns and a long staircase rising to a galleried first floor. The stalls run from local produce — papaya, cassava, plantain, fresh herbs — to imported staples and household goods.
The first floor is the place to look for spices, herbal medicines, dried fish, and the local grog (sugar-cane spirit) sold by the bottle. Less of a tourist scene than the fish market, but a much more accurate snapshot of how the city actually shops. Open every morning except Sunday.