Mala Pijaca for suits and hardy marketeers

Located in the urban sprawl to the west of the city center, Podgorica’s small market, called Mala Pijaca, targets those who live or work in the immediate area and are in a pinch for produce. While this market might be viewed in a better light if it were the only market in town, when stacked up against Podgorica’s other market, Velika Pijaca (see my previous post), Mala Pijaca is decent at best.

While offering many of the fruit and vegetable staples, Mala Pijaca lacks significant variety. Whereas at Velika Pijaca you can find a dozen potato vendors hawking up to 3 varieties of potatoes, at Mala Pijaca all vendors are generalists offering a smaller selection across a few different types of produce, and only one type of potato.

Beyond differences in variety and volume, Mala Pijaca sets itself apart by having slightly higher prices. For those who know Podgorica, this surely comes as no surprise. Mala Pijaca is located adjacent to Podgorica’s newer higher end business district. Lamentably, after making a multitude of lunchtime fruit purchases, I’ve found that higher prices don’t necessarily correlate with higher quality and freshness.

vendor of live fish

transport for live fish

Separating the produce from durable goods, tools, and clothing, along one side of Mala Pijaca exist two cheese rooms and a row of egg vendors. Most enticingly, the cheese vendors sell straight out of knee high wooden cheese casks. Upon ordering a quantity of cheese, a section is dredged out of a slurry of residual cheese juices. This liquid is also for sale, and is marketed as a highly acclaimed health elixir. (Having sampled said substance, I wish to kindly inform you that it is an acquired taste, and extremely-extremely-sour.)

To its great credit, Mala Pijaca embodies the outdoor, rambling, full of smells, noisy vibe that I associate with my favorite produce markets. The aisles are narrow and winding, making browsing and buying more intimate. Vendors hawking goods call out to you, and offer samples in to entice you as you walk by. These characteristics make Mala Pijaca vastly different from the high ceilings, white tiles, and wide aisles of Velika Pijaca, which can sometimes give you the feeling of walking into a high school gymnasium. 

In addition to its inviting atmosphere, Mala Pijaca is ringed by a number of pleasant cafes serving up espresso, beer, and typical Montenegrin eats. MOST notably, catty-corner to the market’s main entrance there is a “Bureci” stand that serves up one of the best meat bureks in town (a post on this coming soon).

Update: 12/6/08

Location: Mala Pijaca is located on Moskovska street at the intersection of Vasa Raickovica. Once you are in the general area, just look for the immense white cathedral, and you’ll find Mala Pijaca located just outside.

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