Mercado de San Miguel in Madrid (edited for spelling)

 Hello, everyone. Sorry it's been so many days, things have been busy. Most of the 2024 Camino pictures have been added to my computer now.

And scrolling through them, I encountered a number of photos from the Mercado de San Miguel. This isn't really a "market" in the Old World sense. It's a tourist trap--but this one is worth it. No admission charge. Food, food, food, and also a couple of drinks shops, plus a certain amount of seating.

The octopus is the round slices in the middle. Yum! 

Anchovies on the left, the codfish loaf (pastel de bacalao) I think is in the center, caviar on the right. Yum!

This shop had several varieties of olive skewers. They were great. Below the prepared skewers a number of trays of olives (straight-up) are visible. I love Spanish olives. 

Yes, the Mercado de San Miguel is always crowded. Yes, there are a lot of tourists there. But the food is great, the wines are good, and it's a fun way to spend an hour or so getting a midday snack.

Regarding pastel de seafood, the Spanish have a number of variations on this and they're all tasty. My first discovery of it was the pastel de langostino (crayfish pate) while walking the Salvador in 2021. 

 Since then I have had seafood pastel as part of other meals and it's always a delight.