National holiday today in Greece and in the small town where we now live, there is a tradition of having a flea market with traders coming all over the country. It takes place on the street where my first house was, this market felt like my market when I was a kid :) I chose the photo above because I like it, this is an old neighborhood with lot of character but nowadays most buildings have been restored or replaced by new ones. This might be the only one left abandoned and flying pillows and colorful covers will accompany it for two days.
I was surprised to see that the market on its own hasn't changed a lot. There are still the same things, you can find pretty much anything. Don't ask me about the quality, but I can tell the prices are low and since Greece (and not only) is under a constant economic crisis and in bankruptcy state since 2010, I could notice that this festive flea market had a lot of people. To be honest I thought it would be just me and @fotostef and a few others. I was imagining a state of decadence, but I was wrong. And it was fun too!
You must expect a lot of surrealism, underwear on the air and papaya from Thailand rich in iron and calcium, and some herbs and ceramic pots in between :)
I have said that again, in my opinion Greece belongs mostly to the East that to the West. I could expect to see a market like this in Turkey, Lebanon or Egypt. It feels different than the European flea markets. Let me know what you think :) After having written these lines I read the post of @fotostef that you can read here, that shares the same thoughts :) @fotostef went a step further and looked for the origins of this tradition - a festive flea market that happens due to a religious celebration - and found some interesting stuff going back to Middle Ages!
You name something and it will probably be here :) Kitsch chaos!
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The stand with toys are always popular. Some of them were really nice. Definitely an affordable way to get some gifts for the kids. Not a singe kid without a smaller or bigger present, happy faces!
I am not sure how successful the day was for the others, but the one sector that worked well without doubt was the stands with the sweets! Almost everyone was holding one. Too sugary for us, we just took photos of them.
Famous loukoumades, the bestseller :)
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We went late in the afternoon and when the sun set we were still there. You can see it's full of people! While I am not a fan of all traditions, this one I find it sweet. A memory from the past and something that I have the feeling that it won't last for long. Maybe I am wrong. I was certainly wrong about this year!
If you have already checked out @fotostef's post and you are wondering why his panoramic photos are so much better than mine, this is the reason :) In my defense, he is much taller than me!
Thank you so much for reading!
Photo taken by @fotostef.
This is my contribution to #MarketFriday, initiated by wonderful @dswigle!
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All the pictures and the words are mine unless stated otherwise.
If you would like to know more about me this is my introduction post.