Mercat de l'Olivar

The Mercat de l'Olivar is Palma's main covered food market and one of the best in the Balearic Islands. The building dates from 1951 and occupies a full city block near the city centre, its interior organised into separate sections for fish, meat, vegetables, and prepared foods. The fish hall alone justifies a visit: the variety of fresh Mediterranean fish and seafood laid out each morning is a lesson in what the surrounding sea actually produces, from red mullet and sea bass to spider crabs, squid, and salted fish of all kinds.

The market is busiest on weekday mornings when locals do their shopping. Several stalls sell tapas and snacks at the bar — sobrasada on toast, fresh cheese, olives — making it a good breakfast stop. The market also has a bar-restaurant area serving local food at reasonable prices. It closes at midday and is closed on Sundays.

things to do market sight
A story
The market was built in 1951 on the site of a medieval convent, and its modernist market hall — with its iron framework, ceramic tiles, and natural light flooding through large windows — represents a style of public market architecture that was common across Spain in the mid-twentieth century but has since become rare. It remains one of the few in Mallorca still operated as a working food market rather than a tourist attraction.

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