The mayor of Salou, Pere Granados, accompanied by the Councilor for Economic Promotion, Hèctor Maiquez, and members of the municipal corporation, inaugurated the 31st edition of the Medieval Market. The event fills the streets of the old town with nearly a hundred stalls offering crafts, leather goods, candles, clothing, sweets, gastronomy, and medieval-inspired products.
Before the official opening, episodes from the Llibre dels Feits related to King Jaume I's 1229 expedition from the port of Salou to the conquest of Mallorca were reenacted. Subsequently, authorities toured the market.
Pere Granados recalled Salou's commercial tradition dating back to 1194, when Alfonso II's Carta de Població granted the town the right to a weekly market. "Salou doesn't hold this market for no reason. We are recovering a very important moment in our history," he stated.
The mayor emphasized Salou's strategic importance in the Middle Ages as a "great gateway of the Crown of Aragon to the Mediterranean." He noted that expeditions to Mallorca and Menorca departed from Salou, and that Alfonso III temporarily established his court in the town.
Granados highlighted the effort to make the reenactment of the royal entourage increasingly faithful to the era, with new costumes and elements for nobles, Templars, and musicians, based on documented historical criteria. "Every year we advance and incorporate new elements with historical rigor," he explained, adding that "we want to share this history because it strengthens the sense of belonging and, above all, the pride of being from Salou".
One of the festival's highlights will be this Saturday, September 5th, at 7 PM, with the departure of King Jaume I and his retinue from the Torre Vella to the Plaça de les Comunitats Autònomes, reenacting the departure of the 1229 expedition.
