Granville Glory

Granville public market is a gorgeous fresh produce market close to downtown Vancouver.

Inline with my LOVE of farmers markets I made my way across the Granville bridge on my yellow retro bicycle. It was a daunting experience as the bridge is a dual highway. I was having flashbacks of people in South Africa crossing highways - and those are not the best flashbacks to be having. However in Canada it appears pedestrians and cyclists are king and they even have zebra crossings in many places along the bridge were I was given right of way by vehicles. It was a nice feeling.

Getting to and from the island is very easy from downtown though... Make your way to Hastings street on the west side of the island and catch a seabus. I put my bike onto one to cross back over and it was a fun and inexpensive experience ($3.75 one way on Aquabus).

The market itself is a festival of colour, smells and tastes.  From the bakeries to the florists - every sense will be so filed by one visit to the market. I must say that it was one of my favourite markets thus far and might trump Toronto's St Lawrence market if it came down to a battle of the markets.

My first stop was at Terra Breads. Not being much of a fan of baked almonds I decided I had to break tradition and try their almond biscotti and was blown away. It was fresh, warm from just coming out of the oven and so delicious. The nice thing about farmers markets is that they have tasters of everything so don't fill yourself up on the first bakery - there were at least 3 other bakeries that I walked past - all smelling of wonderful freshly baked bread. 

My next stop was past the colourful fresh produce stalls. Spring is in full swing and the colour of the berries available made me want to take home a basket full.

Passing an Italian shop which made fresh pasta - made me miss making it from scratch from home. And is something I'm definitely going to do when I'm back in SA - so let me know whose down with an Italian evening in July. Their taster was goats cheese and pear ravioli served with a blue cheese sauce - completely over the top... But so so delicious!

To end off my taste party, I stopped off at the Granville Island tea company and tried a Matcha chai tea which is made with masala. It was an interesting take on chai tea - but very yummy never the less.

I have decided to blog about as many fresh produce markets that I can find, and have heard that I am in for a treat in San Francisco. But please leave comments on any other farmers markets that you think I should try around the world. This year a head is for trying new experiences and if it's on route - I'll be sure to make a stop at it!