Pula Shopping

I had found elsewhere (in Morocco and in Spain for example) that it was possible to find easily in supermarkets goods that were otherwise difficult to find when you don't know well enough the country and don't know where to go for a something a little specific.

Plane trees grow in most of the Mediterranean countries and provide a very pleasant shade for markets, for cafes or just for anybody. However, they do not grow everywhere. They don't care for heat but need a lot of water. When plane trees grow, that means that water is not far under the surface of the soil.

At one end of the market are a few booth that sell plants and flowers. Why are they shaded by a "Ozujsko pivo" (Ozujsko beer) parasol is a mistery. Unless these plants are sprinkled with beer ! (which is adviced for some broad leaves indoor plants).

When it was built, the city market hosted all foods. Along the time, as everywhere else, it became too small and now fruits and vegetables providers are outside, under large plane-trees that give a thick shade and keep the place cool, even in full Summer.

The black marble plate says (in Italian) : "Built by the city in 1903, beeing in charge Lodovico Rizzi, ingeneer, Jacopo Lodovico Münz, the ironwork from the plant in Witkowitz" (the translation may need some editing !).

Nota : Vitkovice (or Witkowitz) is now in the Czech republic. The Witkowitz ironworks were bought by Salomon von Rothschild in 1843.

The city market of Pula belongs to this generation of covered markets built all over Europe at the turn of the XIXth century with an iron structure. "Les Halles de Paris", now destroyed, were of the same type.

What to buy: Any food