The Mercadillo of la Pobla de Farnals is tiny compared with El Rastro of Madrid. “El Rastro” refers to both a street (or collection of streets) in La Latina–an old Madrid neighborhood–and to the street market that takes place there every Sunday, year-round.
I cannot recall the first time I pushed my way through the crowds of tourists and madrileños that push their way up and down the streets below La Latina. Maybe someone took me there that first year I spent in Spain, during a weekend trip from Palencia. I know I spent many Sunday mornings there during my Junior Year abroad, when I could easily walk from my flat below Embajadores to the stands at the bottom-most part of the Rastro. I took visitors there, warning them to keep a firm grasp of their bags and not to get lost (and to head up towards Plaza de Carrasco if they did).
I bought gifts there for family and friends back home. I poked through old, dusty shops that looked more like hoarders’ home than stores. I searched for pocket knives and cheap kitchenware, cords and Italian coffee pots.
I spoke of the night before in hushed tones with my friends while squiring family through the maze of streets. I haggled with vendors (not very succesfully–el Rastro is not cheap, and the vendors are no fools) and generally came away with about 25% of what I tried to buy.
Later, when I was living in Madrid after graduating, training, galloping, and racing Thoroughbreds at the Hipódromo de La Zarzuela, I’d visit the lower part of the Rastro, dedicated to tack shops and leather goods in general. I’d buy thick foam pads and pretty fabric to cinch on with an over-girth, so I could gallop “bareback” (without a saddle), a skill that would come in handy when I rode racehorses in Panama, where they only put saddles on for the fastest workouts (and sometimes not even then). Yesterday we browsed in la tienda hipica el valenciano, but I bought a few things at the tienda hipica David.
You can find just about anything in the Rastro. Clothing, antiques, hardware, books, collectibles… anything. And when you’re tired of the crowd, you can get coffee or a beer and tapas in any number of bars along the way. What you cannot find (and is available in most mercadillos, including others in Madrid), is food such as fruit, vegetables, bread, etc.
Later, when I lived and worked in Madrid, I rarely went to El Rastro… only when I had guests or really needed something. Too much trouble, too many people. But it’s worth it if you’re on your one visit to the capital.
