The city's covered market on Largo Doutor Francisco Sá Carneiro is at its best before 10am, when the fish hall is still ringing with the morning's auction. Sardines, mackerel, sea bass, octopus, razor clams, percebes — all of it landed that morning at the harbour.
The fruit and vegetable section upstairs is more modest but stocks the Algarve's specialities: figs, almonds, medronho (strawberry-tree fruit), local oranges, and the dense, sweet honey-cakes called dom rodrigos. A few simple bars on the upper floor cook market produce for cheap weekday lunches.