so by way of many recomendations, we mapped out our first breakfast to the mercat la boqueria.  we were told that it was

This place is like Granville Island public market x 20032098948039, food heaven

…expectations were high.  we started the pilgrimage into the city and the market is right outside the *x* station.

it was sensory overload.  the scents.  the colours.  the fruit.  the bread.  all the thoughts of culture shock from being in asia for long culminated in this one moment.  i might be understating this but the scents in asian wet markets are a little more, uh, pungent 🙂

so in our attempt to get breakfast, our battle plan was to do a lap and scope out our options.  about half of the vendors were still stocking their storefronts but many of the eating stalls already had patrons huddled around them.  we opted for one called la quim, it was towards the beginning/middle of the market and what drew me in was seeing their cubed potatoes sitting on top of the counter

so our breakfast…

as for the rest of the market… lovely

 

all in all, a beautifully laid out market.  we walked through at least half a dozen other markets and boqueria remained our favourite even with the tourist-heavy crowd.  the selection of goods and energy of the market contributed a lot to the overall ambience, for me.