“Excuse me,” I said to the front desk guy at my hostel, “could you tell me how I can see the top of this building?” He had never even seen this market before. His buddy at the desk leaned over and mentioned that he had seen the colorful tiled roof of Mercat de Santa Caterina but from a friend’s apartment- he had no idea how I would be able to see it. I set out on a mission. I was obsessed with seeing this roof. I just had to! I wandered through a maze of streets, ended up in a sketchy part of town, but finally came upon the market.
I went inside. Just as I had hoped, the undulating roof structure was visible on the inside and was such an interesting architectural element.
I stepped outside again and saw people on the roof of an apartment building. I was immensely excited. I walked around but found no entrance.
I entered a shoe store on street level and asked the saleswoman where I might view the roof of the market. She didn’t have any suggestions, as you had to have a special permission to go on the roof of the apartment building. Bummed, I circled the block to see if I had any other options. I spotted a dental office on the third floor on one building, and I swear, I contemplated going in there with a ‘toothache’ to see if I might catch a better glimpse. I probably debated it for about 10 minutes, before realizing that snapping photos from the dental office’s window would probably give away the fact that I didn’t have a toothache. Due to a subtle gradation in the road, I did get a decent view of the roof. However, I would have loved to have seen the roof in its entirety.
Have you seen this market in Barcelona? If you’re into markets as much as I am, you may want to visit my last post- another great market in Barcelona.
Beautiful photos! I too would have loved to have seen the top of that that roof its funny that there was not place you could go to get a view from overhead.
Haha I had to giggle at this one and your persistance. But I agree, the roof looks absolutely beautiful.
PS, and no I have not been there :( I’ve never been to Spain before *le sigh*
The market is incredible, I love Spanish architecture.
Such lovely photos.I also love Spanish architecture.It’s so unique and amazing.Thanks for your sharing
It’s gorgeous! I miss Barcelona :)
I remember that market! Nicole and I stopped to look at directions to our next stop for the day, and an older gentleman who had been reading the newspaper came over to ask if we needed help finding where we were going.
I’m going to Barce in a few weeks. I am making it my mission to find that building and get a view of the rooftop and get a picture for you!
I usually use my own photos on my blog, but didn’t have any of the Santa Caterina market so I was looking for a good photo on the web to use (with permission, of course) and found yours. I can’t use them, but I sure liked looking at them. Maybe I don’t have a good one because I never found my way up into one of the nearby buildings! Next time I go in, I’ll see if I can.
I shop at Santa Catarina market all the time. There are two restaurants which I love, especially at the bar where you can watch the food being prepared.
If I go back to Barcelona, I will have to check these out I didn’t notice any restaurants when I was there!