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portraits, navigation instruments – fail to spark much casual interest.You’ll get
the most out of a visit if you pick up the free audio-guide and hone in on some
of the more illuminating digressions, for example on steam navigation, fishing
methods, life at sea or the growth of the port of Barcelona. Combination tickets
available at the desk are more worthwhile, offering discounted trips on the
harbour sightseeing boats or up the Columbus monument, while
children’s
activities
at weekends and school holidays are well regarded. There’s also a
good
café-restaurant
at the museum (open Mon–Sat lunch, plus Thurs–Sat
dinner), which puts out tables in the pleasant courtyard – on summer evenings,
this becomes a popular patio lounge-bar.
Moored over on the Moll de la Fusta (beyond the harbour’s swing bridge), the
Santa Eulàlia
(May–Oct Tues–Fri noon–7.30pm, Sat & Sun 10am–7pm; rest
of the year closes 5.30pm; €2.40, free with Museu Marítim ticket) is another of
the museum’s showpiece exhibits. Dating from 1908, and previously named the
Carmen Flores
, the three-masted ocean schooner once made the run between
Barcelona and Cuba. It’s been fully restored since being acquired by the
museum, and a short tour lets you walk the deck and view the interior.
Port Vell
Barcelona’s inner harbour has been rebranded as
Port Vell
(Old Port;
o
Drassanes/Barceloneta), an area that encompasses the Moll d’Espanya wharf,
the adjacent marina and the Palau de Mar development at the northwestern
head of the Barceloneta district. It has its local critics – it’s undoubtedly tourist-
oriented, showy and expensive – but there’s no denying the improvement made
to what was formerly a decaying port area. The city’s old timber wharf was
among the first to be prettified. Backed by sedate nineteenth-century buildings
along the Passeig de Colom, the
Moll de la Fusta
is a landscaped promenade
with a note of humour injected by the addition of a giant fibreglass crayfish by
Catalan designer Xavier Mariscal and, further on, the Roy Lichtenstein totem-
pole sculpture known as “Barcelona Head”. From the Columbus statue end of
Waterside café
THE WATERFRONT: FROM PORT VELL TO DIAGONAL MAR
|
Port Vell