Travel Tips & Adventures

Every piece of travel material on Vancouver mentions Granville Island as a great place to go.  We agree.  Even on a rainy day, we found Granville Island with its Public Market a great opportunity to eat, see and experience.

The Public Market has several large buildings where the same vendors have been for years.  The variety of products sold range from gorgeous produce to cheese to flowers to pastries to  tea to – well, you name it!

Gorgeous produce arrayed at Granville Island's Public Market

There are also food stands where you can purchase burgers and other food, ready made, even from buffalo. Almost every ethnic food variety is represented.  Bagels, pizza, teriyaki, fish (fresh and cooked) and almost too many choices!Public Market hours are generally 9 AM to 7 PM daily (with occasional deviation for holidays).

www.granvilleisland.com

Tea for Two – or Twenty

One of our best experiences was stopping at Granville Island Tea Co.  At the small stand, they had many (we couldn’t count them all!) tea varieties.  Oolong, darjeeling, organic, blended, decaf, black, white, fruit blends, rooibos, chai – a long list!  

We decided this was the perfect place to buy a birthday gift for a friend.  When we announced we wanted to buy a gift, we were treated like royalty.  We had been treated attentively, but another person was assigned to help us test different varieties until we found the one(s) we wanted.  I sniffed an array and finally narrowed my choices to three.  Because it smelled SO good, I asked to try their iced tea fruit blend, a proprietary mix that turned out to be delicious.  Good choices!  I purchased small canisters for the gifts.  

Also, they have a great approach to serving loose tea.  A small paper cone, to which you add some loose tea, has a hole on both sides of the cone to which you insert a large toothpick-like item, then suspend the cone into your  cup. Voila!  Personal tea serving!

They are doing so well that they will be taking over the larger booth next to theirs within the month.  See www.granvilletea.com  The friendly atmosphere and obvious steady stream of regulars told us a lot about the popularity of the tea and the people who serve it.  Great place – I highly recommend it.  (And they do mail order.) 

Note: Also, I have not been paid to endorse this company!Other Granville Island notables

We wandered about and saw gift shops, art stores, galleries, clothing shops (organic, naturally!), restaurants, postings for theater performances that were taking place in various venues. and whimsical touches.  Glass galore, leather, pottery, jewelry,  and every medium that exists.   Plus there were shops catering to mariners, boaters, etc.

Whimsical sign offers directions

Since we were hungry, we stopped at the Agro Cafe where they take your order at the counter and prepare some very healthful and attractive-looking food.  Prices are reasonable, so that was a plus in a city where, even in Canadian money, you find big numbers for food.  

Travveling across False Creek, the water taxi docks behind the Public Market

The water taxi docks in back of the Public Market, but since it was a rainy day, we didn’t see anyone dock while we watched.  In a patio area behind the Public Market, there are impressive views of False Creek and the “mainland” of Vancouver.

False Creek from Granville Island Public Market dock

From Granville Island’s humble beginnings as an industrial area to its current, thriving “place to be” status, it certainly shows the value of urban renewal.  Plus it’s a fun place!  We’ll have to go back when it isn’t raining – but then we probably wouldn’t land the great parking spot we had.

Come back next week for a visit to an exceptional restaurant

Tags: Art, Farmers Market, Food, Travel, Vancouver

This entry was posted on Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 6:00 am and is filed under Art, Family Fun, Food, Shopping, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.