chumbos, snails and chirimoyas

        There is often a lady there selling chumbos, or cactus pears, which she peels with gloved hands and holds out for you to eat between your fingers. They’re nice, but gritty - but if you haven’t tried at least one, you’ll never be a “granaíno”!

        To get to the Mercado de San Agustín, where mainly fish and meat are sold, walk up the esplanade with the palm trees. It is interesting to see the great variety of fresh fish of which Spaniards are so fond - the small signs chalked with the word Motril stuck into heaps of fresh anchovies and sardines mean that they have just been hauled out of the Mediterranean on the south coast (where Motril is) and not trucked in from the big fish-producing regions of northwestern Spain.

        In the streets around the market you will see squaw-like, aproned gypsy women - just like the ones in the 19th century etchings - seated on wicker chairs behind baskets crawling with live rock snails, the “caracoles” which the taverns of the Albaicin serve as tapas in a pungent sauce. The coastal valleys of the region are a veritable horn of plenty, and here you will see delicious tropical fruits such as the chirimoya (custard apple) which you cut in half and eat with a spoon like a cup of ice cream (don’t forget to spit out the shiny black seeds). Like all Mediterranean people, the Andalucians are mad about mushrooms, and here you will see both the standard white “Paris” variety, and the delicious “setas” or oyster mushrooms, which grow in the roots of trees..

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