Monday, July 28, 2014

The Stamp & Coin Market and the Paintings Market

So yesterday, before heading to El Rastro, I stopped by the Mercado de Filatelia y Numismatica (the stamp and coin market) in Plaza Mayor and then the Mercado de Pintura in the Plaza Conde de Barajas. 

The stamp and coin market began in 1927, and occurs every Sunday from 9:00 am until early afternoon. The market attracts hundreds of stamp and coin aficionados who spend hours looking through the boxes of coins and albums of stamps. I bought some Cuban coins and a few old Spanish bills. Check out my photos below of the Mercado de Filatelia y Numismatica.

Plaza Mayor (from my visit the other day)




Some stands set up all along the covered perimeter of the plaza



An album to collect ALL of the different types of euro coins - how cool! I have one of these back home for the US state quarters.

It was so neat to see all of the coins from the countries that I hadn't seen yet. I think the coolest one I've seen around (as in, from a purchase that I made) was a 1 euro coin from Greece. 



So colorful!

Some Spanish bills. I bought the green one and a bigger one from a different stand.


Wait a minute...I can still use that $2 bill in the States!



So that's a glimpse at the coin and stamp market :) Now for the Mercado de Pintura!! This was in a small plaza in the neighborhood of La Latina (pretty close to Plaza Mayor actually).


A lot of the artwork was stunning, but cost much more money than I was willing to spend. A small (maybe 8x10) painting cost 20 euros = about $28. While I understand it's handmade and beautiful, there are times when I can't afford to buy every painting I see! I do want to buy one before I leave though...



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