The Pike Place Market tour was to begin at Starbucks (not the original one) located at Pike Street and 1st Avenue. I arrived early, not knowing where to park nor where to walk nor where Pike and 1st intersected.
Who would travel without GPS assistance? The handy little device directed me to The Public Market Parking Garage, conveniently located at 1531 Western Avenue. I paid $15 for parking. Some may consider this pricey; however, Seattle traffic is intense. For a non-resident such as me, the ease of access was worth the dollars. A nice young lady, walking her bicycle, escorted me up the elevator to the 7th floor. From this landing one can view the shipping yard and the market wall. Little did I know what awaited on the other side of that wall.
As I opened the door, and proceeded inside, I was instantly overwhelmed. There, displayed as far as the eye could see, were shelves and rows and racks and benches heaving with a food lover’s ‘stuff.’ Knowing I could not loiter, I moved along to the assigned destination, all the while assured that before me lay a day of sensory overload.
I highly, highly, highly recommend the Savor Seattle Food Tours. I can triple highly recommend this business since I participated in three of their tours. All were equally informative, led by knowledgeable tour guides, entertaining, and well organized. All three offered an ample array of tasting opportunities.
Once equipped with communication devices, and served a taste of pomegranate iced tea at Starbucks (dark brown exterior building and brown logo rather than the traditional green), the “Pike Place Market: Classics Food and Culture Tour” began.
Keep in mind that we were only tasting at all the stops, so portions were small yet quite adequate.
The guide shared vendor trivia as we walked along the tour route, as well as history/trivia of the area.
As you can see, we tasted so many different delicacies. The list is long, and maybe it’s only important to me (and the vendors), but I wanted you to experience the tour, virtually. Alone, I could have walked through the marked, looked around, and wondered. Led by the tour guide, we were escorted around, and in front of, and behind. And we were fed instantly; no waiting in line, no overstuffing, and no doggie bags.
I’ll post information related to the other tours soon, as well as a link to all the pictures.