Sunday, January 05, 2014

Touring while Local: Savor Seattle's Pike Place Market Tour

The Pike Place Market is one of my favorite places in Seattle. It has that particular quality of place that brings it to life and offers a place where different worlds meet. As a visitor, you might be there to see it as a sight, while as a local you might be there for ingredients for dinner or the well known $10 bouquets. The ability of the market to be at once an authentic local destination and a feast for the senses for the visitor to get lost in is what makes the Market so wonderful.


Of course, if you don't live here the Market is a lot to take in: Three levels, lots of hidden nooks, hundreds of things to try, and plenty to explore. That can be overwhelming. On top of that, it would take multiple trips to the market to try the best of the best and weed out the places you don't like as much. It is work. Fun work, but work nonetheless. That's where Savor Seattle steps in: Their two hour tour of the market is well researched, includes a blend of history, sometimes cheesy jokes, and a selection of some of the places that I would pick out myself to show visitors. 

Oh, and one lucky person gets to catch a fish that is thrown at them by professional fish throwers (That guy with the fish flying towards him in the picture below was on the tour, not one of the fish guys).




The tour incorporates some of the best spots and gives you a bite of each: A donut or two at the Daily Dozen; A mini-cup of clam chowder and seafood bisque at Pike Place Chowder; A crabcakelette from Tom Douglas' Etta's; Piroshky from Piroshky Piroshky (and more). These are all great places to try and what is on their list is likely on yours (or will be once you start looking into it). You won't walk away hungry.





On top of the selection and the great personalities of the guides, there is one other big reason to consider the tour: Being part of Savor Seattle means that you skip the lines. Instead of waiting for a half hour in line to get a cup of chowder, it comes out to you. Piroshky Piroshky is also well known for having huge lines which are completely negated by the tour. The tour moves at a good clip and is a very efficient use of time. Less time in lines means more time exploring. One thing to note is that the morning and afternoon tours have one minor change in the schedule: Instead of Chukar Cherries and Piroshky Piroshky (which is on the morning tour), the afternoon tour visits BB Ranch for a little charcuterie and then to Pear for a taste of one of their sandwiches. 

If you look on TripAdvisor and Yelp, you'll see that these guys have a near perfect rating. Those types of scores just don't happen (especially when there are thousands of reviews). In this case, they deserve it for making some of the best of the Market accessible for visitors and the touring local alike. More information on Savor Seattle can be found on their website: http://www.savorseattletours.com/tours/pikeplacemarket/

After the break, more photos from the tour and from the Pike Place Market!








1 comment:

  1. Absolutely stunning photos! Thank you for joining us on Savor Seattle's food and cultural tour of Pike Place Market!

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