Market Day!

In each small town or village there is at least one market day a week. In Hengelo those days would be Wednesdays and Saturday. The town square fills up with vendors selling vegatables to boots. It starts in the morning and continues on till 5 or 6 at night. The stores downtown also stay open late on market days. Normally most of the shops are closed by 6, but tonight they will be open for a couple more hours.

As you walk down the street the closer you get to the market you can hear a buzz in the air. It has a carnival atmosphere. Vendors are annoucing the latest prices, the smells of all sorts of food being cooked is overwhelming, and the walkways begin to fill with people who are wandering from booth to booth. Yes, there are grocery stores, but most will buy their vegatables, meats, cheeses, and fish at the market. Oh no, I cannot forget candy! The Dutch love their candy and the king of the sugary delights is "Drop" or what we would call black licorice. (Yes Gloria and Shirley I will remember).

Waffle cookies are the other treat which is always sure to please when hot the griddle. No matter how cold, the stroopwafel man will be making them off as fast as the waffle iron will heat them up.

Honestly, what totally amazes me is the freshness and the quality of all the items... from the flowers to the fruit. Where does this stuff come from? Back home, one would have to go to the finest "Gucci Organic Grocery Store" to even get close to the freshness of most of these products.  I could understand if Hengelo was a major metropolitan, but this town is far from that!  One can walk from end to end in 30 minutes.

No better example would be the flowers.  It is January in the Netherlands guys and it may stay light for maybe 9 hours a day - You walk by the flower stand and one would think it is April.

Once again the most important thing one must remember when they go to the market...

You still have to carry it home on your bike.

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