In a perfect world, someone pays me to travel all over the world to visit markets, photograph them, shop and cook from them for large dinner parties of new friends, and wax poetic to anyone who will listen.

That has not happened, so in the meantime I will simply seek out markets whenever I am lucky enough to be travelling.

Barcelona has several markets, but the biggest, most famous one of all is La Boqueria, which is actually called “Mercat de Sant Josep”. The first time D and I visited La Boqueria in 2009, I was speechless with awe as we wandered the endless aisles of everything edible that you could possibly imagine.

La Boqueria has not changed since our last visit. The crowds are still as large as I remember. There were so many people taking photos that I was sure the tourists outnumbered the locals shopping for their day’s provisions. Most of the vendors seemed very surprised when D and I ordered a few things to cook for lunch. While I am certain they are all sick of tourists taking their photos, I must admit that I am guilty of snapping a few of them myself. It’s hard to resist when everything is so beautiful.

The flat that we rented was located in the neighbourhood called “La Barceloneta”. This area is near the port of Barcelona, and was traditionally a fisherman’s village. David Tanis is a chef at Chez Panisse in Berkely, California. He writes a little bit about Barceloneta in his cookbook, “A Platter of Figs”, which is a really delightful book of simple recipes, inspired by the seasons. I have cooked from this book many times, and highly recommend it.

Barceloneta also has a little market which conveniently for us, was located about a block from our flat. It was much smaller than La Boqueria, but still had that same spirit of conviviality, with small tapas bars located in the periphery of the market, several busy produce stalls in the centre, lots of butchers, delis, fish mongers, and poultry stalls surrounding the produce, and shoppers chatting and greeting one another everywhere. The vendors were all so friendly, accepting our attempts at speaking Spanish, and giving us a thumbs-up when we handed over the correct change.