If you are looking for the true Normandy vibe, go to Trouville. Thanks to Napoleon’s half-brother Charles Mozin, the former fishing village has been rapidly gaining popularity among the Parisians since the 1830s. The construction of the railway branch and the opening of hydropathic establishments finally sealed the town’s fame as a seaside resort. But above all, Trouville is a town of fishermen. And where there are fishermen and fish, there is a fish market!

It is a low Norman-style structure built in 1936. Most of the sellers stand right on the street, under an arcade. The market is located a few meters from the fishing boat pier. So you can be sure of the fish freshness!

Although it is called the fish market, the best places on the shelves are occupied not by fish but by mollusks of all shapes, colors, and sizes. For example, there are mussels sold in both shells and liter jars, and small shrimps sold in glasses like seeds. Sea snails, sea almonds, lobsters and langoustines, scallops, crabs, squids, and octopuses are all carefully laid out on the ice and decorated with lemons and parsley. Fish are represented on the shelves by sole (similar to flounder), cod, salmon, anchovies (small distant relatives of herring). In addition to seafood, you can also buy various sauces with tomatoes, garlic, rosemary, or mustard.

There are also cool bottles of white wine placed on the ice next to the fish. You can immediately try everything you want there are several points in the market where you can ask to cook the purchased goods any way you want (fresh seafood is prepared in just a couple of minutes!). Thus, you can enjoy your oysters and champagne at the bar or al fresco. Please note only that the market is open from 8 a.m. Few tourists know that there are two deliveries: the morning and the evening one, at about 6 p.m. Fishermen bring fresh catch and sell it directly from the boats at the pier. Locals come here to buy fish for dinner, although the assortment here is not that rich: mackerels, sardines, pollock. But the prices at the pier are lower than at the market.