Mercado do Livramento

Setúbal is a working fishing port at the mouth of the Sado, and the Mercado do Livramento is where the catch lands. The building dates from 1930, faced inside with large azulejo panels showing fishing and agricultural scenes and the Sado estuary, and the fish hall running down its centre is the reason it is known - dozens of counters with the morning's landings, sardines, horse mackerel, sole, octopus, cuttlefish, red mullet and whatever the boats brought, sold by fishwives who have generally been doing it a long time. USA Today ran a list some years ago naming it among the best fresh food markets in the world, which Setúbal has never stopped mentioning. Around the fish are produce, cheese, bread, flowers and a few counters serving. It is a market for the town rather than for visitors, which is what makes it worth going to.

What you actually see

• The fish hall - dozens of counters with the morning's landings from the Sado boats.
• The azulejos - 1930 panels of fishing and farming scenes around the walls.
• The sellers - fishwives working counters held in families for decades.
• The local function - a market Setúbal shops in, not a converted food hall.

When to go

Year-round. One to two hours. Mornings, and early - the fish is best before ten and the market closes in the early afternoon. Closed Mondays.

Honest expectations

Wet floors, strong smells and crowds - it is a fish market. It closes by mid-afternoon and all day Monday. Little is aimed at visitors, and English is limited. Buying fish is only useful if you can cook it.

Nearby

The Igreja de Jesus is a short walk; the Sado boats and Tróia ferry are on the waterfront.