The Free Market and other Pleasantries...
This snack tasted just like Toblerone, but cost less than a 1/4 of the price!
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The Free Market and other Pleasantries... |
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| I think most people who know me will agree that I love to shop. The Free Market therefore, turned out to be my very own personal Heaven. The merchants set up their stalls for the big shopping days on Saturday and Tuesday, although as I later discovered (to my delight), it works on a smaller scale every day, even (don't be shocked fellow Nova Scotians), on Sunday. Some of the vendors are local people and some come from Romania which is just 11 km away. The wares, which range from fresh fruit and vegetables to toilet paper (grey and scratchy, I don't recommend it), used fridges, jewellry, cheap Chinese trinkets, and (my personal favourite) authentic "designer" clothing, are very cheap. Fruit and vegetables go for a song. I paid 20 dinars for 1/2 Kg of blackberries (figure that one out!). The clothing is so cheap as copyright and trademarking are not a concern in Yugoslavia. At all. So...I picked up "genuine" Nike training pants for 15 DEM (roughly 11 dollars) as well as other "brand name" goodies. The trips to the market were gleeful affairs for me, but it was never far from my mind that what is cheap for me, is not for locals. I met people here who make 20 DEM - a month. So basically, for some, a pair of "real" Levi's cost one month's salary. A pretty sobering thought. As the days went on, I became more confident and paid for things by myself. I got very used to hearing pleasant voices say,"izvolite?" which roughly translates to "what would you like?" My favourite part of the market however, was the humanity. There were all kinds of people there, some employed, and many not, and so many things to see. The pictures below, I think, capture some of the memories I will never forget. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nice rags, eh?! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| My Oh-so-cute keychain. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Budgies and tiny little turtles for sale. All of this is balancing precariously on a table as people bustle by, purchases in-hand. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Me feeding some little baby chickens which were wandering about the market one (luckily for them), slow Sunday morning. They had funny rubbery necks. Note the yummy ice cream in my hand... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Yummy anise sweets | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Mmm... chocolate! This snack tasted just like Toblerone, but cost less than a 1/4 of the price! |
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