No two days in Barcelona are alike, but today was especially out of the ordinary. Usually, my roommates and I plan our days beforehand, but today (one of our last weekdays in Barcelona), we each went our separate ways for the afternoon.
I decided I wanted needed to spend the day at La Boqueria, Barcelona’s infamous food market. If you know one thing about me, you should know that I have a serious obsession with food markets. (Click here to read about my trip to St. Lawrence Market in Toronto, Canada.) La Boqueria boasts stalls overflowing with vibrant produce, colorful smoothies and juices, intimidating-looking meats, perhaps the freshest seafood I have ever seen (and smelled), neatly piled pyramids of spices, and candies so intricate and bright they look more like plastic toys than food.
I have visited La Boqueria a few times before today, but I was with a group of friends, and I felt rushed and pressured to stay glommed onto everyone else. Today, I was (actually) a kid in a candy store. I stopped wherever/whenever I wanted to take pictures, buy a fruit smoothie (my recommendation: mint and coconut) or sample foods. (Yes, sampling is a thing at La Boqueria – kind of like Sam’s Club or Costco, but a lot more fun…and in Catalan.)
Tomorrow, my group is headed to Figueres and Girona. I think I am most excited for this day trip – both cities look gorgeous, and we get to visit the Dali Museum in Figueres.
I can’t believe this is my last weekend in Barça. On Wednesday, we transfer to Madrid for the final stretch of the trip!
Hasta luego,
Darcy
All photos are my own.
The Darcy Diaries 
Hi Darcy! I love your photos of La Boqueria. I visited Barcelona when I was in college (many, many years ago) and La Boqueria was one of my favorite parts as well! My friends and I bought bread, meat, cheese and fruit and had a picnic. It was one of my favorite memories of that trip. If you don’t mind me asking, when you’re taking photos of things like a food market, do you ask the vendors or anyone if it’s ok to take photos? I guess with the language barrier it may be difficult but I live near Union Square in NYC and I love the farmers market here. I always see people walking around with cameras but I did a photography lesson in the market once and my instructor said I should always ask if it’s ok to take photos before I do. What are your thoughts? Thanks!
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Hi! Thanks so much for your comment! The picnic sounds amazing. In response to your question – personally, when I am somewhere as popular/crowded with tourists as La Boqueria, where nearly everyone has cameras/phones out and is taking pictures of the food, I don’t ask. (I also happened to buy food at some stalls before taking pictures.) I think if I were in a smaller store or somewhere not as crowded, I would probably ask before taking pictures.
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That’s good advice. I think most of the vendors at the union square market are used to it as well so I’m going to snap away until someone says otherwise!
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Hi Darcy! I loved your post, it made me miss Barcelona so much! I love La Boqueria, it was the one place we could count on to find ingredients we needed to make mexican food and sauces.
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Hi! Thank you for your comment! I have spent the past couple weeks studying abroad in Barcelona, and I love it here. La Boqueria does not disappoint!
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