“Tardeo in Santa Catalina is the best!”
The smiling foursome in the corner by one of Santa Catalina Market’s four entrances; two Mallorcan locals, a Columbian woman and her English husband, are all in agreement.
“We come every Saturday”, says the woman.
And are they going dancing afterwards?
“Sí, claro! Yes of course! Every Saturday without fail! It’s so cool.”
No visit to Palma is complete without a Saturday tardeo, said to be a mix between the words tarde (afternoon, late) and tapeo (going around the bars, drinking and eating tapas) – the eminently sensible and quite un-Spanish phenomenon of starting and finishing the party early.
The eating and drinking starts around 1:30pm and goes on until the market closes around 3:30, and then it’s off to some nearby bar that opens at 4 or 5, for dancing and more drinks. In bed by 10, ideally. How civilised!
The market does a roaring trade in wines, condiments, fresh food and flowers all week long, but on Saturdays the food stalls stand forlorn and abandoned. Everyone is cramming into the cooked food areas; windowless and rather charmless as they are, people stand in line for up to 30 minutes to get a seat.
You can’t book in advance and if you come after 2pm the race is pretty much run. Every seat is taken and double taken, and people stand three deep outside the counters, desperate to get served – but being Mallorca, desperate in a laid-back way. The clientele seems to be largely between young middle age to “75 years young” retirees, people who (no longer?) want to waste half the Sunday sleeping.
They are not here to get drunk, but to have a good time with friends.
The greatest pressure cooker is at the Bar Des Mercat, where two overworked chefs promise to cook whatever stuff you buy from other parts of the market. Seasoned eaters picking out their own ingredients –genius!
Locals and tourists, young and old, everyone loves the tardeo.
Everyone , that is, except the dogs. They are the only ones not allowed to join in the fun.
Warning: When you google Santa Catalina Market and in many articles about the tardeo phenomenon, it says that the place closes at 5pm. This is NOT true! It’s 3pm, but you can drag it out somewhat by ordering very late.
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