Portobello Road

While we were in London a few weeks ago, we took The Tube to Portobello Road. Portobello Road is an outside market that focuses on diverse types of antiques-from jewelry to navigation devices, old sports equipment to silver. At the start of the road, it did not seem like very much--with only a couple shops, market stalls, and houses. As we continued down the road, though, it became very lively. There were hundreds and hundreds of stalls selling anything and everything a chap can unload (#BedknobsandBroomsticks). There were stalls selling pastries, purses, rings, old books, produce, scarves, dresses, china, paintings, soup, sculptures, souvenirs, and more. Whatever was being sold was crammed onto tables or hanging from pegs, crowding every available space. All of the stalls were rather small, (about 8 feet long and five feet deep or smaller), but they each sold enough merchandise to fill a full-blown store! Now does that give you an idea of how crowded everything was? What was even more amazing was that the people running the stalls seemed to have all of the prices of everything memorized. You would ask the price of something--because very few things were labeled--and they would tell you it was this or that amount of pounds without even looking at anything or hesitating. It was sooo cool! 

Posing for a quick picture in between some stalls

The part that I liked most about Portobello Road, though, was definitely the atmosphere of it all. The people everywhere were walking along, not rushed, but not slowly. Barely anyone seemed to be in a huge rush to get their shopping done ASAP, which was a nice change. This allowed us to better enjoy everything we saw, versus buying something we need and then leaving immediately. Everyone admired or at least glanced at whatever was being sold at nearby stalls; depending on their interest levels of the merchandise. It reminded me a bit of window shopping, except better both because you are looking at everything in the store as you walk by and there are no windows. You could not only look at everything, but you could touch the merchandise and smell the amazing food as you walked by. People were calling out their prices and sales to the crowd of passersby, trying to attract customers. We actually found a great deal this way, when a pastry-selling stall started calling out a discount of "All pastries now a pound each!" So, we bought seven of them--plus one the lady added on for free--and enjoyed them as we continued on our way. They were delicious! We also bought a couple gifts, some cherry tomatoes, and a wallet for Mom.

A view of the crowds and some merchandise on display in the stalls.

The road wasn't large, but it was very very long. We hadn't reached the end of it before it had gotten dark. However, the market did not quiet down at all when it started getting dark. Christmas lights overhead came on, the market stalls kept on running, and the crowd kept on coming! It wasn't until much later that we decided to start looking for a London Underground Station to start our journey back. But, even by then, we had still not reached the end of the lively market. The atmosphere was so fascinating, and it gave me a better feel for the culture here in Europe. It makes me wish that I had a market like Portobello Road nearby to do all of my shopping! After all, they sold pretty much everything I could ever need or want, plus all the stuff that I just want to admire (and not actually spend my money on).