The Marché Provençal in Old Antibes – morning produce, afternoon art

Every town on the Riviera has a market, but few have kept theirs so firmly at the centre of things. The Marché Provençal fills the covered hall on Cours Masséna, in the heart of Old Antibes, a few minutes from the marina and closer still to the sea. From early morning until one o'clock, market gardeners lay out the vegetables and fruit of the season, producers from the mountains behind the coast bring their cheeses and cured meats, and the stalls fill up with olives, lemons, spices, jams, olive oils and wine – often with a taste offered across the counter. There are flowers, cut and dried, a fishmonger and a stall of Corsican specialities. The tourist office names the regulars by their first names: Jacques for cheese, Dominique for flowers, Denis for fish, Michel, Marina and Marielle for vegetables, Tony for Corsica. Then, in the afternoon, the hall changes hands, and painters, sculptors and ceramists move in under the same roof. It is the most useful address in Old Antibes, and one of the most pleasant.

01The house

The market is less a building than a roof over a street. The hall stands on Cours Masséna, in the pedestrian heart of the old town, with small cafés along one side where stallholders and shoppers stop for a coffee between purchases. The same street holds Antibes' town hall, a discreetly neoclassical building completed in 1828, its date carved in the keystone above the door and a clock in the pediment above. Come in the morning and you are shopping with the people who live here; the market is open every day from June to August, and every day except Monday the rest of the year.

02What to buy

Start with what the mountains send down: the cheeses and charcuterie of producers from the hinterland, which are the market's pride. The vegetable stalls change with the months – the market gardeners sell what is in season, so the best plan is to look before deciding what to cook. Fish comes from Denis's stall, and Tony's Corsican counter is the place for the island's specialities. For something to take home, the stalls of local artisans sell jams, sweets, olive oils and wines, and the spice sellers pack well for a suitcase. Fodor's singles out the lemons, the olives and the hand-stuffed sausages. And because Antibes sits so close to Grasse and its flower fields, the florists are worth a detour of their own.

Insider tip

Closed on Mondays from September to May; open daily in summer.

03The afternoon change

At one o'clock – a quarter to two in July and August – the food stalls pack up, and for a couple of hours Cours Masséna goes quiet. Then, from mid-afternoon, the Marché des Artisans takes over the hall: painters, sculptors of every kind, ceramists and other makers set out their work in the shade of the roof. From October to mid-June it runs on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, from about 3pm until 7pm. From mid-June to the end of September it runs from Thursday to Sunday, starting at 3.30pm and, according to the tourist office, carrying on until half past midnight.

04Around the corner

The market is the natural start of a morning in Old Antibes. From Port Vauban, Fodor's suggests walking in through the arched gateway beneath the ramparts and along Rue Aubernon to the Porte de l'Orme, the old town gate built of quarried Roman stone and enlarged in the Middle Ages. A few steps from the hall, Rue Thuret holds Le Vauban, the old town's classic French table, and the sea wall and the Château Grimaldi, home of the Musée Picasso, are a short walk away. Elsewhere in town, the tourist office lists a flea market on Place Nationale on Thursdays and Saturdays, and, in July and August, night markets of crafts and costume jewellery at the Pré-des-Pêcheurs in Antibes and on the Promenade du Soleil in Juan-les-Pins.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.