Salamanca Markets., Hobart

If you are in Hobart over the weekends, you must stay in town on the Saturdays to fully enjoy the biggest event there is: Salamanca Market at Salamanca Place!

Shopaholics - you're in for a time of your life, as all walks of life descends onto Hobart on this particular day, selling the you-needs and the you-don't-needs. Worm your way through the labyrinth of stalls selling anything from arts and crafts, T-shirts, cosmetic jewelries, furnitures, fresh produces, soaps and aromatic oils and plenty others. Exercise your stomach by snacking on the many varieties of food up for grabs - hot dogs, curry puffs, ice creams, waffles etc. Enjoy the exuberant atmosphere where musicians serenade the crowd with long and happy melodies. Kick off your weekends to a brilliant start!

Join the crowd of be seen and to be seen.

Starts 8:30am and ends at 3:00pm.

The Salamanca Markets are a wonderful place to get to know individuals selling their wares or displaying their talents. Take time to meet the pen maker, the Tasmanian writer, the student from the local high school playing music or the student selling items from China or Tibet who attend the University of Tasmania. The items you buy or the pictures you take will be much more meaningful to you. You may even make a life-long friendship, who knows?

Salamanca Place is a row of old sandstone warehouses that are ideally situated along the waterfront. This area was once the buisness headquarters for Hobart's wealthy merchants but the whole area fell into disrepair until the late 1960's according to my guidebook. Apparently, a group of artists met to turn one of the warehouses into a working space. A revival soon followed. Today, Salamanca place is the spirtual home of Hobart's small but vital creative community and it is lined with galleries, cafés and restaurants, and of course, the ever popular Salamanca Market.

This market is held every Saturday morning and is the biggest of it's kind in Australia. Unfortunately, Liz and I visitied Tasmania mid-week and did not get to see the Market. I'm sure it's well worth the trip though! My apologies for the poor picture.. when the market is open, the cars in this picture are long gone and road is open only to pedestrian traffic.

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While best known for its Saturday Markets, Salamanca Place is a great place to visit on any other day of the week. Spend time visiting the shops and galleries or enjoy a meal in one of the many restaurants - or just wander up the street taking in the elgance of the historical buildings.

The architecture is that of the Georgian period and many of the original sandstone buildings, once the centre for Hobart's trade, are still standing.

The gracious buildings look onto a beautiful stand of plane trees whose leaves reflect the changing seasons.

Along with the attractive Georgian buildings you should also visit historic Kelly's Steps. Built in 1839, Kelly's Steps lead from Salamanca Place to Battery Point.

Then of course there are the markets. Fresh organic fruit and vegetables, local handicrafts such as woodcraft with local timbers and handcrafted glassware and original stylish clothing all mingle with the sound of local musicians and the aroma of a variety of food stalls.

http://www.hobartcity.com.au/salamancamarket

Unfortunately the day of my visit to the markets was cold, snowy and very windy and many of the stallholders decided to pack up early.

Salamanca Market on Saturdays is really wonderful. There is a strong 'alternative' community in Hobart (as well as the 'red-necks' that the rest of OZ can't seem to help teasing Tasmania about...) and it makes its presence felt at this once a week market.
Many of the stalls sell organic fruit and vegetables, bread made from natural yeast and organic flour, even organic beef! And if you know the right people (wink wink! nudge dudge!) you can even get organic, unpasteurized cheese!! (illegal in Australia...)

This market also sells the best apples - such an unbelievable variety, super cheap and freshly picked off the trees! The farm I worked on was exporting its apples to Japan even! Unbelievably delicious!

Besides all that, you can also buy many kitschy little hand-made things to take back home... eg. tea-cossies, hankies...
;)

It is Hobart's most popular market. Good to visit. All sorts are for sale here, including fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh flowers, arts & crafts and much, much more. There are few restaurant near by if tiring after walk around. It is open on Saturday ONLY.

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If you can't find something in this market that has at least 300 stall holders, then you may be hard to please! It is Hobart's most popular market. All sorts are for sale here,including fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh flowers, arts & crafts and much, much more.

It is very busy, and takes a while to have a look around. We browsed around the stalls and had a very enjoyable morning here.

The area was once the haunt of sailors, whalers and workmen.........now the old Georgian warehouses that line Salamanca Place are today are Hobart’s cultural hub, home to galleries, theatres, cafes, craft shops and restaurants.

Salamanca Market operates EVERY SATURDAY from 8am until 3pm..........
rain, hail or shine.

One of Australia's best Saturday markets is located at the historical hub of Salamanca Place. If you are pushed for time in Tasmania and will be in Hobart this is well worth an early morning visit. By 1PM the market starts to pack up shop, but then the party atmosphere begins to take over.