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Food markets in Barcelona |
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Food markets of Barcelona
If you are looking for a bit of authentic "yesteryear" culture in Barcelona, then visit the fresh food markets of Barcelona.
 Click here to visit all our listings for food markets in Barcelona
The most famous food market in Barcelona is in the Gothic area. It's called La Boqueria and is located on La Rambla.
Even though it is a popular tourist attraction it has lost little of it's authenticity and charm! Here things are still done the way they were before the tourist arrived in droves. No new fangled concepts like change or progress seem to make an impression on La Boqueria.
La Boqueria in Barcelona is already a fabulous experience for all the senses. Just browse around and enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of choosing, talking about, buying, tasting and just plain feasting your eyes on an incredible multi-coloured bonanza of exotic fruits, vegetables, fish, meat laid out before you.
Some Barcelona residents say that the food market at Sant Antoni is even livelier, fresher, and much more authentic than La Boqueria! And at the Sant Antoni Market they have clothes stalls and a book and coin market on Sundays!
Click here to find La Boqueria website, (which actually does have 4 langagues) where you can read all about the stalls, the history and see photos.
Click here to find Sant Antoni market webpage
Progress and change for markets of Barcelona
For some markets in Barcelona, however, a little change would be in order and if you want to see how a future vision can breathe new life into an old food market, then from La Boqueria it’s only a 15 minute stroll over to the Born / Ribera area of the old city, where you can visit the newly open Santa Catarina market.
All that remains of the old Santa Catarina market are three facades of the original structure.
This is quite common in Barcelona. Leave the facade of the old building intact and rebuild everything inside.
This seems to work quite well especially for smaller and more local markets in Barcelona.
They need to attract the younger generation to their markets to replace the literally dying breed of old housewives, and to do that then they probably do have to jazz it up a bit.
A good example of this is the newly opened Santa Caterina market in La Ribera, which took seven years to reinvent itself.
The re-birth of Santa Caterina food market in La Ribera shows the way forward.
The star of the new Santa Caterina market is the flying carpet roof; flamboyant masterpiece designed by Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue, and a refreshing sign that not every architect in Barcelona since Gaudi has forgotten how pleasing to the eye a curved line really is.
Inside the Santa Catarina market you can find over a hundred market stalls and one of Barcelona's best lunch restaurants called Cuines Santa Caterina .
Many of them are way trendier than the old market ever was and they have up to the minute sales gimmicks like online ordering services. How you squeeze a avocado online is still creating some software problems, but I am sure these will be ironed out over time.
The magical roof also covers hip restaurants and other new neighbours like some low cost retirement homes.
It also features an underground car park to get shoppers and wares to market and an all new organic rubbish disposal system - part of the grand plan to clean up Barcelona.
The Santa Caterina is a praiseworthy result. If you have to replace a market because it was falling down anyway, then this is definitely the way to do it.
For more information about the re-birth of Santa Catarina market click below to read an excellent article in the Guardian. http://arts.guardian.co.uk/critic/feature/0,1169,1544932,00.html
In the article the writer mentions that there are over 40 food markets in Barcelona with more that 10,000 market stalls all together, so they must be one near you!
Click here to find it.
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