Flea Market Adventures Part 2

Welcome back to part two of my Flea Market Adventures series! If you didn’t check out the last one, head here for part one to learn about the Portobello Market in London (one of the biggest open markets in the world). Now that is taken care of, lets dive in.

The second flea market I have visited abroad is the Porte de Vanves market in Paris, France (located in the 14th arrondissement). One of the first things I noticed with this market was that it far less touristy and definitely smaller than the Portobello Market. My husband and I arrived at 8:30am (we heard it opened at 7:30 and we wanted to get a jump on the crowds we thought we were going to encounter). However, we came to find out that most vendors don’t arrive until later (some were still setting up their stalls when we got there). This didn’t bother us at all though.

As I said before, there were far fewer vendors and far fewer shoppers (most of whom were locals walking with a cup of coffee in one hand and a leash with their dog in the other). Because most of the people we encountered were locals, it wouldn’t hurt to brush up on a few key shopping phrases in French because a few of the vendors did not speak English. A few did however, and they appreciated my effort in trying to speak their language. It even helped in making a deal with a few of them.

This flea market reminded me of any back home but with a definite French flair! My husband and I could have navigated through all of the stalls in a few hours but had fun stopping to pet the dogs and briefly chat with the locals and vendors. We spied some beautiful antique furniture pieces we would have loved to take home but were much too big to do so, unfortunately. I did however, end up buying a few decorative plates and a vintage corkscrew. My favorite purchase though was a cheese plate with the words “Les Bons fromages” (good cheese). I overlooked the small chip at the top because it was just so “French”.

Taking the Metro to get there couldn’t have been easier – there is a Porte de Vanves stop and you can see the vendor stalls right when you exit the station. A great app to use in Paris, by the way, is SNCF -- punch in where you are and where you want to go and it will let you know which Metro station to enter and where to get off and/or make changes – very handy (even if you don’t go to the flea market).

I am equally pleased with my flea market treasures that I found at the very busy Portobello Market in London and those from the quaint Porte de Vanves. I am looking forward to finding more flea markets in my future travels and sharing them with you so you might find some treasures with a local history too.