Granville Island
From our Vancouver apartment, going to Granville Island was easy and fun: just walk to the dock and hop on the Aquabus (CA$4 each). The cute little boats shuttle passengers back and forth across False Creek every five minutes.
Our first stop was the Public Market, which was marvelous! There was an abundance of fresh produce, baked goods, meats, seafood, and much more.
I was especially impressed with the array of tropical fruits…
…and one industrious vendor had even piled their fruit into neat pyramids!
The baked goods looked sooooo delicious! I am trying to cut down on my sugar intake, so I ate with my eyes.
There was also a food hall with hot dishes from all over the world, but we had already eaten, so would have to leave that for a future visit.
Granville Island is not really an island, it’s a peninsula! After the market, we wandered around. There were outdoor cafes, art galleries, shops selling work by local craftsmen, artist studios open to the public, and a space for temporary art exhibits. One shop sold just rope hammocks; another was dedicated to handcrafted (and very expensive) brooms. We also saw a brewery, a sake factory, a kids’ market, and multiple local theater companies.
There was even a concrete factory, which was the site of Vancouver’s first large scale mural. Giants (2014) had been painted onto six 70-foot-tall concrete silos by OSGEMEOS - twin brothers from Brazil. The mural required 14,000 cans of spray paint! (Later, as we left the island on the boat, we saw that the silos had been painted on the other side as well.)
Granville Island was fun, a little quirky, and easy to reach, and we loved the Public Market. We definitely plan to go back the next time we’re in Vancouver.
