The harbour plan
From the auction to your table
Calpe's fish market is fifty metres from our kitchen. Every weekday afternoon the boats unload and the fish is auctioned in front of anyone who cares to watch. We've been buying there for 85 years. This is the plan we recommend to our visitors:
- 5:00 pm
The auction
The boats come into port and the fish goes out in crates onto the auction belt. Watch it from the public walkway inside the market itself (Monday to Friday; it lasts about two hours). The harbour Tourist Office, in the same building, has visiting details.
- 6:30 pm
The stroll
Out along the quay: the nets, the moored boats, the Peñón catching the last light. The whole harbour walk is twenty unhurried minutes.
- 7:00 pm
The table
Sit down at Baydal and order what you just watched being auctioned: whiting, red mullet, Calpe prawns. Rice is made to order (25–35 min): start with a sharing plate and let the harbour do the rest.
The auction runs Monday to Friday. On weekends the plan still works: stroll, harbour, table.