Food Markets: In the Belly of the City

According to many, La Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria, or simply, La Boqueria, is the best public food market in the Ciudad Vieja and a tourist's ultimate destination in Barcelona's La Rambla.

Located on a hill in the city of Lyon, the neighborhood of La Croix-Rousse (Red Cross), is the town's coolest district, and one of the best itineraries of taste.

With more than one hundred food and vintage stalls plus numerous restaurants, the popular Naschmarkt--Vienna's vast 16th-century food market--is a colourful culinary destination.

Nestled in an impressive three-levelled building, picturesque Budapest's central indoor market is not only one of the largest but also one of the most elegant food destinations in Europe.

One of Europe's biggest open-air food market, Turin's Porta Palazzo, is a vibrant core of fresh smells, bright colours, and lovely people.

Freiburg has an incredible gothic cathedral with a food market at its feet; farmers from the Black Forest bring their trout and herb pestos, wild berries and smoked ham to the city.

Riga's Centraltirgus in Latvia is the biggest covered city food market in Europe, where there is century-old rye bread making, grilled lampreys, soviet milk sausages, and hemp butter.

The old ladies selling their baskets full of vegetables; cheese on the Dolac market in Zagreb; travelling from the Mediterranean islands to the Austrian Alps; from freshly caught hake and simple Baltic snacks to internationally awarded cheese.

Unquestionably, there's no better place than the centrally-located and well-covered food market of Marché Victor Hugo to get a general view and to feel the beating heart of Toulouse's vivid food scene.

The Mercato di San Lorenzo, or Mercato Centrale (Central Market) in romantic Florence, is Tuscany's true gem, as here, there's only one motto: taste, in all its glorious simplicity and authenticity.

Located between Ferdinand Bolstraat and Van Woustraat in the colorful De Pijp neighborhood of Amsterdam, the busy Albert Cuyp Market is one of the oldest food bazaars in town with a delightful abundance of local bites.

The Viktualienmarkt developed from an original farmers' market to a popular market for gourmets. But the center of the social life of the city is the world-famous Biergarten - here the seven historical breweries of the city pour the finest beers of the world.

The spacious and completely refurbished Mercado da Ribeira, or the Time Out Market, with the iron interior and the large central dome is a bustling with people traditional food market where one can discover Lisbon's best under one roof.

The renovated Old Market Hall, or Vanha Kauppahalli, is a magnificent 19th-century building, and Helsinki's oldest indoor food market crammed with exotic delicacies, Finnish baked goods, and tasty cold meats that are impossible to resist.

Meandering through the lively city of Palermo in Sicily, the almost one-thousand-year-old Ballarò open-air street market is a true hidden wonder which throbs with activity around the busy Piazza Carmine in the old part of the town.

Chaotic and evocative, Kapani Market in the Greek city of Thessaloniki resists the changes global fast-food culture is bringing to the city. Day after day it supplies the residents of the city with food.

Despite being hit by two fires, in 1980 and 1986, Cork's English Market is a gem in the Northern European market landscape.

At the San Benedetto market in Cagliari there is a special variety of regional offers. In particular, the Sardinian spiny artichoke has been cultivated on the island for a long time. She is the pride of the vegetable farmers.

Fisketorget is a market in the heart of Bergen, Norway's second largest city, which lies on the country's west coast. There is plenty of fish and seafood, but a lot has changed because of climate change and overfishing.

The hall of the Mercado Central in Valencia is a pearl of Art Nouveau architecture, which focuses on the fantastic regional products that are grown on the fertile soil around Spain's third-largest city.

At the Rialto market, delicacies that are part of the Venetian culinary tradition are brought by boat directly from the islands of Sant'Erasmo and Le Vignole. Artichokes, giant tomatoes, and more come from the wetlands north of Venice.

Nearly a kilometer long, the Isemarkt in Hamburg is one of the most significant biweekly markets the city can boast. There are 200 stalls full of fruit, bread, vegetables, fish and baked products.

Explores the markets in Halles de Dijon, which is a huge expanse hosting over 700 stalls in 4 pavilions. Its size goes along with the variety of specialities coming from the Burgundy region.

The diversity and richness of Slovenia are perfectly represented at the central market of Ljubljana: bakeries, family dairies and meat stalls offer the Carniolan sausage or the Kraški pršut.