I spent a day in Belem to see the port including the market and the theater. There is lots to do and you can easily spend hours. I took a motorcycle from the northern airport to the theater and then walked over to the port. From the Estação das Docas (~15-20min max) you almost reached the market and it's a pleasure to walk along here. It's also cooler inside and along the cleaner parts. Once you reach the market it gets crowded, hotter, louder and definitely SMELLIER. I think the smell was the worst part of it all. I arrived before lunch and most of the fish was already prepared with plenty of dead fish just thrown aside. Worse even is that lots of birds go over these remains and it creates more smell.

I don't find much special here. Yes, it's large and has many things but I was looking for a place to chill and just sit down with some snacks but that wasn't possible. The snack bars are kinda dirty and still hot, no place to relax. In fact nobody was there. When I approached one the vendor was super eager to get me to sit down and eat which wasn't my thing at all. There are many sections including food, clothes, art etc. I feel that as a modern consumer I don't visit markets for this anymore. I did go to the markets in Lima and Cusco as examples that I don't avoid them but I hardly bought anything. I don't NEED a hat, sunglasses, potatoes, SMELLY fish, and surly no art. If I needed anything like this I would buy it online, cheaper. Perhaps it's my culture and someone living in Paris is perhaps NOT inclined to just buy anything online when needed. Either way, this market is basically just here for filling this need and not "cool" for just visiting to enjoy. I did go to one area in the southern parts (I think it was the art section?) which even had a closed upper floor and that might be worth seeing but just canopy tents aren't my thing. Ok, so I'm not the demographics they want. An every day user would be living in the city and get their supplies from the market. It doesn't make it special either. I find it harsh that I'm against the market but it was hard to walk past it and not getting annoying by all the burden. Unfortunately the area doesn't get lighter towards the south and that upcoming fort isn't exactly a highlight.