Krasnodar Central Market

Worth a detour

Regulated trading in Burgas dates from 1879 and this is where it happens now: the central market in the Vazrazhdane quarter, open from seven in the morning until nine at night in summer and eight in winter, seven days a week including holidays. Fruit, vegetables, cheese, honey — and nine fish shops, because Burgas has no separate fish market.

Story

Background

The municipal company that runs it was set up in 2000 and operates eight markets across the city; Krasnodar is the central one. The others are worth knowing if you are staying in the right quarter: Slaveykovo pazarche in the middle of town, Veleka in Izgrev, Mladost in Slaveykov, Lazur, two in Meden Rudnik, and a Sunday market in the Cherno More quarter that trades from half past seven to one.

The fish is the reason for a visitor to come. There is no fish market as such in Burgas: the trade sits inside Krasnodar, in nine shops the market company lists by name, and the rules require each of them to have refrigerated display cases meeting the food-safety standard. A working port with a fishing fleet, an hour from Sozopol and Chengene Skele, ought to be a good place to buy fish, and this is where you do it. Turbot, bluefish, horse mackerel and mussels in season, and the Black Sea sprat that everyone here fries whole.

The other useful thing on the site is a laboratory where anyone can have fruit and vegetables tested for nitrates, nitrites and ammonium, which is a very Bulgarian municipal service and tells you something about the market's history. Go before ten, take cash, and expect to be shouted at cheerfully.