Fodor's Expert Review La Boqueria

Barcelona's most spectacular food market, also known as the Mercat de Sant Josep, is an explosion of life and color. As you turn in from La Rambla, you're greeted by bar-restaurants serving tapas at counters and stall after stall selling fruit, herbs, veggies, nuts, candied preserves, cheese, ham, fish, poultry, and other types of provender. Although you can avoid the worst of the crowds by browsing before 8 am and after 5 pm, most of the time, you'll have to wade through throngs of both locals and visitors. Indeed, the market has become so popular, that tourist groups of 15 people or more are banned from entering between 8 am to 3 pm Monday through Saturday.

Under a Moderniste hangar of wrought-iron girders and stained glass, the market occupies a Neoclassical square built in 1840, after the original Sant Josep convent was torn down, by architect Francesc Daniel Molina. The Ionic columns around the edges of the market were part of the mid-19th-century square, uncovered in 2001 after more than a century of neglect.

Highlights include the sunny greengrocers' market outside (to the right if you enter from La Rambla), along with Pinotxo (Pinocchio), just inside to the right, where owner Juanito Bayén and his family serve some of the best food in Barcelona. The secret? "Fresh, fast, hot, salty, and garlicky." If it's too crowded to find a seat, the Kiosko Universal, over toward the port side of the market, and Quim de la Boqueria, both offer delicious alternatives. Don't miss the fruits del bosc (fruits of the forest) specialty stand at the back of the market, with its display of wild mushrooms, herbs, nuts, and berries.