Please leave a comment if you have time - I just can't see who has been kind enough to read and ra...
Please leave a comment if you have time - I just can't see who has been kind enough to read and rate my reviews
Member since:21.07.2003
Reviews:436
Members who trust:177
Situated just off Las Ramblas, Barcelona’s Boqueria (or more correctly Mercat de San Josep) market is one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions. I think it says a lot about the enduring attraction of food markets that the Boqueria is still so popular in spite of the fact that our supermarkets now stock excellent produce from all over the world and that air travel and border restrictions have made it more difficult to take fresh produce home from trips abroad. When I first visited the Boqueria I was filled with excitement at the array of colourful fresh produce – fruit and vegetables, herbs, fish and shellfish, meats – fresh and cured, bread, nuts and dried fruit – on sale at the market but over time, as I have traveled more widely, "La Boqueria" has lost a little of its gloss.
You’ll find the Boqueria quite easily just off the Ramblas, almost in the centre of those pedestrian streets. What you'll not know from your visit is that the market stands on the site of a former monastery and the decision was made in the nineteenth century to demolish the
monastery of St Joseph and build a market - possibly one of the best tourism moves ever made in Barcelona!
If you enter from the Ramblas you’ll see a wrought iron gateway bearing the name "Boqueria". The stall are arranged (almost entirely) into groups of foodstuffs and if you come in from the Ramblas the first section you come to is the fresh fruit and vegetables. One of the things that I find interesting about the popularity of such markets with tourists is that unless you are staying in self-catering accommodation you’re unlikely to buy much from them. Stallholders have wised up to this and a couple of them sell pre-prepared fruit salads in plastic cartons; they do look delicious and were much cheaper than I thought they’d be – the cost of course depends on the contents of each box and there are different options available. Some stalls also sell freshly made juices and smoothies; on our last visit we shared a delicious mango smoothie but it was quite hard going as the straw was not quite wide enough for the roughly blitzed fibres of the mango! We paid around €2 for this which didn’t seem too extortionate.
Next, depending on which way you choose to navigate, we found the stalls selling dried fruit and nuts; we didn’t linger as I have a nut allergy that easily flares up with just the dust from nuts, without me even having to eat any.
Passing through the death trap (for me) of the nuts we came to the fish section. The produce is displayed on large metal tables, usually on top of ice. I love to see the heads of sword fish sliced off and displayed so the "sword" sticks up into the air. As our local fishmarket at home might only have around ten varieties at any one time, I find the selections of fish in Spanish markets absolutely thrilling and the fish section of the Boqueria is probably my favourite part of the market.
Although there is plenty of fresh meat on sale you'll also see lots of stalls selling cured hams and sausages. Huge hams hang from huge hooks suspended from frames built above the stall and the fat that drips from the hams is collected in a little cup at the bottom of the joint.
As many visitors now come to Barcelona on budget airlines and carry only hand luggage, its much less likely they'll buy things from the boqueria to take home. Fortunately, you can still sample some of the markets best produce at the handful of pintxos (the Catalonian version of tapas) bars inside the market where you eat sitting at the counter. The best known are Bar Central and Bar Pinotxo. If you want to do this get there mid morning otherwise you'll be competing with local workers who love to eat here.
Generally morning time is the best time to visit the Boqueria before it gets really crowded. if you come quite early you'll see local restaurant owners and chefs coming to see what's good so they can decide on their daily specials.
Would I recommend a visit to La Boqueria? If you're really passionate about food then definitely. If you're on Las Ramblas anyway, then drop in if you have time. Otherwise I'd say that these days it's perhaps not so exciting. We can buy a lot of this stuff at home, though admittedly, the presentation is not so good and the rather pale and often insipid stuff we buy at home is no match for the tasty produce to be bought here.
Nearest Metro station - Liceu (Line 3)
Pictures of La Boqueria
A wrought iron sign announces the entrance to the market
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Advantages: *Great transport *Attractions for everyone, any age, any interest *City and beach Disadvantages: *Food prices/quality in the centre *Very busy in peak seasons
Sep 1st, 2009
exceptional by (5%):
very helpful by (95%):
