Hola Barcelona!

The one hour drive from Girona and arrival in Barcelona went smoothly. We're very happy with our apartment, 
it's spacious, clean and has a lovely terrace at the back! 
It will be a very comfy 'home' for the next 5 nights.

Instead of unpacking we decided to head for La Boqueria Market to see if we could find something tasty for lunch and buy some fruit, veggies etc for the next few days. Most of you will know that we LOVE exploring the food markets wherever we go. On the days we're staying in apartments it gives us a chance to see whats on offer, sample some of it and cook a meal or two for ourselves. We do enjoy dining out too but it's good to be able to mix it up a bit....
we usually eat out for either lunch or dinner each day.

We tried some empanadas for lunch today and they were delicious. In fact we enjoyed them so much we bought more to have for lunch or a snack at some stage in the next few days.

Sampling some of the local produce at Barcelona’s most central produce market is a sound, smell and colour sensation. It spills over with all the rich and varied bounty of fruit and vegetable stands, and seemingly limitless varieties of sea creatures, sausages, cheeses, meats (including the finest Jabugo ham) and sweets.

The chocolate coated strawberries at the top of this photo were for sale in many of the stalls and were very popular.

According to some chronicles, there has been a market on this spot since 1217, and while today it is a tourist attraction in its own right, it has always been the place where locals come to shop. Many of Barcelona's top restaurateurs buy their produce here, which vouches for the quality of the market's offerings.

La Boqueria is dotted with half a dozen or places to eat, and eat well, with stallholders opening up at lunchtime. Whether you eat here or if you're self-catering, it's worth trying some of Catalonia's gastronomical specialities, such as percebes (goose-necked barnacles) – much loved across Spain, they look like witch fingers and are eaten with a garlic and parsley sauce.

You can buy the seafood to take home 
but they also had snacks on offer.

We walked 7.9 k's today.