The sights and smells of the old markets

Explorers, traders, writers, poets, historians, botanists, sailors from the past centuries to modern time travellers, backpackers, film makers, photographers, journalists, writers, artists have been recognising old markets as one of the memorable and beautiful sights encountered. From Rialto market of Venice to old market at Cusco, below are two of the excepts found from travellers' literature.

INDIAN MARKET
I STEPPED OFF THE BUS IN THE MORNING AT HAMPI Bazaar, a place so bewilderingly strange to Western eyes that I could hardly believe I was seeing it. There was a double row of broken columns, the equivalent of several blocks long. Though now roofless, you'd call it an arcade if you saw it in Italy or at a Californian mission. The columns were huge. They stood maybe as much as five or six feet apart, and, in places, two or three ancient steps still led up to a floor paved with granite slabs, straw, merchandise, and people. It was such a jumble that it took me a few minutes of taking a step and staring, taking another step and staring, to realize that these were people's homes and people's stores. The merchandise-sandals here and pots there, basins, soap, cups, mats, cosmetics, food, fabrics, saris, a thousand items-formed the walls between the columns. Often the merchandise also formed a barrier between the front and back of the stalls. There may have been two families to a stall. Maybe more. There were multitudes crowded between the huge broken columns, sitting about in the streets, walking up and down, staring at the occasional foreigner, no doubt hoping they would buy something; but mosdy the vast milling crowd was just living, friendly, curious, and welcoming.
-JAN HAAG, "'A VISION OF VIJAYANAGAR," Travelers' Tales India

A FRENCH MARKET
I HAVE NEVER FOUND A MORE PLEASANT WAY TO GO shopping than to spend two or three hours in a Provencal market. The color, the abundance, the noise, the sometimes eccentric stall-holders, the mingling of smells, the offer of a sliver of cheese here and a mouthful of toast and tapenade there-all these help to turn what began as an errand into a morning's entertainment. An addict could visit a different market every day for several weeks..
-PETER MAYLE, Encore Provence