Split's Green Market and Fish Market

Split has two markets and they sit on opposite sides of the old palace. The Pazar, the green market, spreads outside the east wall: fruit, vegetables, cheese, eggs, dried figs, olive oil, honey, and a fringe of stalls selling slippers and phone cases. The Ribarnica, the fish market, is a small covered hall to the west, built in the early twentieth century with an Art Nouveau front, and it has a local peculiarity in that it attracts almost no flies, generally put down to the sulphur springs that once fed the baths next door. Both open early, both are finished by early afternoon, and both are used by people who are actually cooking dinner.

What you actually see

• The Pazar - open stalls of Dalmatian fruit, vegetables, cheese, figs and oil against the palace wall.
• The Ribarnica - the covered fish hall, its marble slabs loud from seven in the morning.
• Seasonal produce - mandarins from the Neretva valley in winter, cherries and figs through summer.
• Dried and cured goods - salted anchovies, capers, dried figs, herbs and oil sold by the producers.

When to go

Before nine in the morning for the fish and the best of the produce; by two both are packing up. Saturday is the fullest and the most crowded day. Winter has a season of its own, with mandarins, cabbage and olives, and far fewer visitors than the summer months when the aisles are half tourists taking photographs.

Honest expectations

The Pazar has drifted towards souvenirs at its edges, and prices in the tourist-facing rows are noticeably higher than in the back ones. Some stalls resell imported produce as local, so ask. The fish hall has no seating and nothing cooked. Cash is easier than card. It is a functional market, not an attraction, and photographing vendors without asking gets you told off.

Nearby

Diocletian's palace is on the other side of the wall, and the Riva waterfront is two minutes away.