Thursday, July 13, 2006

Granville Island Public Market - Vancouver, BC


The Granville Island Public Market is just a few minutes' walk under the Granville Island Bridge from our friends' apartment in Vancouver. It's a most enjoyable place to browse, shop and eat.

My favourite breakfast at the market is a bowl of oatmeal with cream, brown sugar and fruit sauce made from whatever fresh fruits are currently available from the Okanagan Valley orchards. In addition to groceries, the market has flowers, plants and crafts for sale. There are fast-food booths with foods from many different countries. You can sit inside or out on the deck facing False Creek and the mountains behind North Vancouver. The market is difficult to photograph, because you can't get very far away from the booths, and it's always very crowded, but I made some attempts while S. was shopping. I only had time to photograph in the grocery shopping area.
(Click on any photo to enlarge.)


I'm always fascinated by how the produce vendors can carefully balance the Rainier cherries:
Plenty of fresh fish and all kinds of meats, smoked and fresh:

Pasta, pickles and olives, all kinds of condiments, dairy products:

Baked goods and sweets:

The vendor in this booth sells honey and beeswax products:

4 comments:

sonia a. mascaro said...

What an amazing market, Pam. I'm also always fascinated of plenty of fresh products. Sounds you had a great time! Love all photos!

robin andrea said...

So beautiful and colorful. I love markets that like. We keep meaning to head over to the Pike Street Market in Seattle that looks a lot like this. Roger has never been there, and I only went once over 25 years ago!

Lené Gary said...

Looks like Lychee in one of the top picks. Mmmmm. Yummy.

Pam in Tucson said...

sonia - Thanks for visiting again! I love markets, but have only seen permanent ones like this in France and Spain. I photographed a wonderful one in Barcelona several years ago. We have small farmer's markets that convene once a week in our town and we enjoy getting the fresh produce, but there are only a few stalls.

robin andrea - I understand the Pike Street Market is outstanding and much larger than Granville Island Market. I've seen documentaries on it. If you can tear yourselves away from your Shangri La some day, I expect it would be worth the trip.

lené - Yes - lychee! My second favourite fruit after raspberries. When we were in Taiwan, I happened to mention that I love fresh lychees and that they were (then) impossible to find in Tucson. The next morning, our host came in with a branch full of lychees for me - he'd cut it off a tree in his garden!!