SHOP LIKE A ROYALTY IN GAMBIA

Without wearing a crown nor being the next of kin, Banjul’s Royal Albert Market does a coronation for its patronizers. Royal Albert Market is a street market located on Liberation Avenue in Banjul ,Gambia, which was named after Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, in the mid-nineteenth century. It’s a great outdoor market where you can shop everything in relation to house, food, and souvenirs.

The street market is made up of three distinct markets. This includes; the wholesale and retail market, the produce market, and the tourist market. Each section harbors different items ranging from everything the local people need to that which tourists can not take their eyes off. The wholesale and retail market sells clothes, footwears, household goods etc., while the produce market sells fresh fruits, fresh meats, spices, fish, vegetables and dried foods. As for the tourist market, clothes, jewellery, a souvenir shirt of Gambia, arts and crafts are being sold to cater for tourist trade and experience.

Some tourists spent time learning about various qualities, origins, and weaving components of colourful fabrics. An individual who hasn’t experienced the atmosphere of a street market, will find the crowds and jostling weird, and fascinating at the same time.

There is lack of language barrier to an extent, as everyone speaks English, and this makes the transaction between the vendor and the patronizers go smoothly, and leave the market’s atmosphere delightful.

A trip to Banjul without visiting this market is like a groom forgetting to take his bride home after their wedding ceremony.