Portobello Market

Summer in Madrid is hard to deal with, especially these last few weeks, so here I am home trying to avoid the heat, and while I'm here, I've decided to do another blog post before 2016 arrives. Today I'll be talking about the Portobello Market, which you can find on Portobello Road (obviously), next to the Notting Hill Gate tube station.

In order to get there you just have to follow the crowd, walk by the Book & Comic Exchange store and keep walking through some streets that have very CUTE houses that must cost a pound per square centimeter per month (basically because it's Notting Hill we're talking about).

 

And then you'll get to this deserted street (yes) (especially on the weekends). But it's worth it.

 

The most interesting thing about this street are its antiquity stores and stalls, which go from the beginning to the end of the road, and of which I am a fan (something you might have noticed if you've been reading this blog for a while).

 

 

These stalls are there from very early in the morning until about 4 in the afternoon, so I'd recommend you go early in order to make the most of it.

Of course, not all of it are antiquities. You can also find a toy store, cafés, clothing stores, bakeries, and even a store and bar selling Spanish products (Garcia & Sons), which was nice in my case since I was able to find really good Spanish tuna.

If you keep walking straight (if you come from Notthing Hill Gate station) you'll see on your left at some point a wide street where there are more stalls.

 

 

As you can see there are lots of things to do on the area and all kinds of stores. If you decide to spend the day there, in order to rest and/or have a sandwich you can go to a small park you'll find on one of the streets to the right (I'm giving you the best directions on how to get there, eh?) where in summer you'll find some beautiful tulips (even though I'm not the biggest flower fan, they do look really nice!).

And then, if you want to keep walking or go shopping (since that's why many people come to London), you can go back to the station and keep walking the other way until you get to High Kensington, a nice but expensive neighborhood that's nice to look at and at the end of which is the Holland Park, which I'll talk about in the future (as well as High Kensington Street).

Angel

Dear friends of the world wide web, I hope you are doing fine. I hope it is not too cold where you are now, and I hope it is not too cold in London, since we are talking about that city here. A swell city. I don't know why I'm talking like this. All I know is that, despite being November, I saw several people with shorts and t-shirts on the streets of Madrid. This weather is a mockery.


This here is a small part of the Angel neighborhood, a place full of stores and restaurants. Like any other place, really. But what they don't have is this awesome corner where they sell vintage items and, most importantly (for me, that is), stamps! Right when you get out of the tube station, after a two-minute walk, you'll find this small market full of awesome stuff. I think they can be found there on Saturday morning. On the little white building you can see on the back of the picture, there are several small shops where they sell clothes, books, and other vintage objects. If you walk past this corner straight on as you come from the tube, you'll find more shops and stalls selling wonderful things (well, some of them at least).

Although my favorite stall is the one selling stamps, because I've always loved stationery and these vintage stamps are the best. The real deal. I don't know where that expression comes from but I've always found it hilarious. This stall can also be found in the Portobello Market (Notting Hill) on Fridays.


The only problem is that they are quite expensive, the cheapest one costing 4 pounds. But I mean, personally I'm not going to get the whole collection, and what other people spend on videogames, make-up or partying, I spend on stamps. No wonder I have no friends. I'm kidding (that was a good one. I know).

Anyway. Once you've checked this place out, I'd say you should go have lunch on the Upper Street or somewhere around, you'll find the aforementioned Tenshi Restaurant, Byron (a hamburger restaurant), Ottolenghi (of which I'll talk about soonish) and other little places where they make nice food. And then you could go to After Noah, the best toystore and antique shop ever. I'll talk about it next time (and there will be a thousand photos, give or take).

I'll leave you with a photo of some of the stamps I own!

Spitalfields Market

Hello friends. I recently found out about a pretty cool band called Cults, and I can't stop listening to this song. It's pure MAGIC.

Now let's talk about London. After mentioning it a couple (or hundred) of weeks ago, today I'm finally going to talk about the Spitalfields Market, an awesome market situated five minutes away from Brick Lane and Liverpool Street.


In this picture you can see a big part of the market. As you can see it basically consists of tons of stalls selling different things depending on the day. There are also shops surrounding these stalls in the red-brick buildings that are also worth checking out (there's a chocolate shop, a toy store, and more) and a great number of restaurants, so you can spend the whole day there. Well maybe not since it closes quite early in the afternoon. Anyway, I can't say much about these restaurants except that they look good, and that I ate at Wagamama, which is a chain of asian food that is quite good! Of course there is always the possibility of going further into Brick Lane and having lunch at independent restaurants.

As you can see on the website, the stalls change every day. From Monday to Wednesday only the shops are open; on Thursday the stalls sell antiques and vintage items; on Friday you'll find art and fashion; on Saturday there are only shops and on Sunday there is everything! On Thursday and Friday they open from 10h to 16h and on Sundays they open from 9h to 17h. I think the shops close a bit later, but I'd only go there for the stalls!


And obviously, my favorite day is Thursday. I love antiques. There's even a little stall where they sell cameras, film, and other items related to photography:


Basically, it's a must. As you can see there are a lot of interesting things to see and do in the Liverpool Street area. If you plan on going there I'd recommend you spend more than one day, especially seeing the closing times of most of the businesses.

Lastly, here is a picture of the market at night.

Camden Town

I've been meaning to listen to Eels for a while now, and I finally did when my friend Marta made me a mixtape comprising the song "Little Bird". The day after that I bought "End Times". I highly recommend it! And that is all as far as music is concerned (for today).

I haven't updated this blog in a long time because I've been enjoying summer and holidays. In a few weeks I'll be back to university again and so I wanted to get away from everything! But now I'm back and ready to keep translating the entries I posted on my Spanish blog - and hopefully I'll do it more frequently.

So, Camden Town. Since this is a blog about London, I guess I have to talk about this market. Even though it's not my favorite place in London, it does have plenty of interesting and even amazing stuff - it's so big that it would be hard not to find something one likes. And since it is so big, I will only talk about the area I liked the most - the Horse Tunnel Market, in the Stables Market - and let you discover the rest on your own.


Just so you know, over a 100,000 people walk around Camden Town during the weekend, and so the Camden Town tube station closes on Sundays from 13h to 17h (i.e., you can't go in but if you come from somewhere else you can get out). Mornington Crescent is not too far, though, so it's not that big of a deal. I also recommend you try avoiding going there on Saturday or Sunday because, as I said, it's crowded.

The stalls I like the most in this area of the market are the vintage ones (there is also a pretty nice toy store). You will find old trunks and suitcases (quite affordable, by the way), telephones, second-hand books, maps, old magazines and newspapers, etc.


I couldn't find rubber stamps though, and I'm a huge fan of those, but there are tons in Angel on Saturdays and sometimes at the Portobello Market (about which I will talk soon).

What you will definitely find is a lot of second-hand clothes.


Nice and useful flannel now that autumn is slowly approaching (not in Spain though...). Oh and don't come thinking these clothes will be all cheap, because for instance, these shirts cost 15 pounds... okay, it's not that expensive, but I thought you should know. There were also some Ray-Ban sunglasses for over 60 pounds. I also tell you this because this year has been the first time I've gone to tons of second-hand clothing stores and I always thought everything would be much cheaper. I guess it also depends on what you buy and where! Anyway. It rules. If only because of all the awesome maps.