LA BOQUERIA MARKET

Of more than 40 food markets in Barcelona, La Boqueria is the best and the busiest always bustling with local shoppers, restaurateurs, gourmands and tourists. Its cavernous market hall (best entered through an imposing wrought iron entrance-way halfway up Las Ramblas) was built in the 1830s to house the food stalls that cluttered Las Ramblas and surrounding streets.

Inside is a riot of noise, aromas and colors, with a myriad of stalls offering all the specialties of the Mediterranean and the Catalonian hinterland, mouthwatering displays of fruit and vegetables, a glistening array of exotic fish, endless strings of sausages, haunches of ham and sweetly scented bunches of herbs.