Madrid's Famed Flea Market

Today we headed to the La Latina district for the Rastro, Madrid's Sunday Flea Market. On the outset, it seems like any generic street fair with t shirts and cheap handbags, but when you move past the tourist area into the real flea market, you find a plaza with 30 or so booths with piles of discarded, used clothing. The venders are all yelling out to draw shoppers to their mounds of mostly heinous clothing. Pretty much every item goes for a euro. It is mostly locals pouring through the piles of over washed Zara discards, stained dress shirts, and polyester high rise trousers. You could even purchase a used Flemenco dress.

I loved it. I scored a black poly-nylon blend sleeveless with black lace over the front and an over sized black with Victorian floral pattern dress shirt (the brand was "Grandma".) I paid a euro for each.