Earlier on in the year when we were planning our trip to Europe we found it incredibly difficult to decide were to go to after Malta. The two real contenders were always Barcelona and Umbria. Hence, the pull towards Umbria was huge, as Deb from Italian Food Forever had invited us to come stay with her and her husband at their glorious farmhouse in Umbria.

Have you not seen their amazing farmhouse? Go take a look and then you can appreciate the dilemma we found ourselves in trying to decide.

Yet, long before my friendship with Deb there was my love and intrigue for beautiful Barcelona. That's not to say I don't value and cherish our friendship Deb, but in terms of 'bucket lists' Barcelona, Gaudi, Picasso and the Mercat de la Boqueria have been high up on my list for well over two decades. So after much debating and to-ing and fro-ing we decided that Spain it would be!


One of the first things we did when we arrived in Barcelona was go straight to the Mercat de la Boqueria.  OK I lie - the first thing we did after settling into our wonderful apartment was head down to the waterfront for some tapas and sangria. We managed to find a table at the ever-popular Luz De Gas, which is a floating bar at Port Vell. That was the night I discovered Sangria di Cava in a big way. I still have no idea how we managed to find our way back to our Spanish apartment after four jugs of the stuff- but thankfully we did!



The following morning we decided that coffee and hang-over food was required. So after a quick stop at Cafè de l'Òpera for a much-needed cortado we headed over to the Mercat de la Boqueria for a bocadillo, which is a baguette stuffed with Jamón and Manchego cheese. 

Words cannot begin to describe the sights, sounds, colour, smell, life and vibrancy of this most famous market. For an in-depth critique I suggest you read Anissa Helou's article that she recently wrote for Waitrose. In it she provides a brief historical background of the market and let's you know what stall to go to find bacala, Adalusian olives, pulses, cheese and wine.



If you want to see more of what we saw that morning you can do so on flickr.