Barcelona is a fun and vibrant city of Spain, which sits on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Today my traveling companions and I went to visit the famous Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria (one of the most famous food marketplaces in Spain).
I always like to make a trip to the local regions grocery stores. It gives me insight of everyday life of the people that I’m visiting. Barcelona does have modern grocery stores, but this one dates back to 1217 and although it is swimming with tourists, you shouldn’t miss it.
There are throngs of 
stalls side by side under one roof. Be ready for your senses to be on overload. Don’t forget your camera; the displays of food are magnificent! Beautiful and colorful candy stalls, all kinds of nuts that you can imagine, cheeses and meats hanging for you to admire and hopefully purchase. Oh the smells of the fish mongers, displaying their fresh catch on beds of ice.
I purchased Iberian ham; the butcher carefully sliced pieces of thin meat off the leg bone of a pig and then weighed my selection. The meat tasted wonderfully salty with a chewiness of
dried meat. As we walked up and down the aisles, sampling our meager bites, we selected to eat lunch at one of the small restaurants that are part of this marketplace. We shimmied up to the bar and ordered glasses of sparkling rose and cava (a bit like Prosecco). Some ordered the Moritz Beer we had drank the night before. (See my blog on: Barcelona Food and Wine tour). Assortments of tapas were ordered.
What a wonderful way to spend a couple of hours during lunch in Barcelona!!
