Suanne and I debated where to go for the last day.  She wanted to visit Parc Guell.  I did not.  I had enough of Gaudi to tell the truth.  We had earlier tried going to the famous Gaudi park a couple of days earlier.  We went to the wrong station.

I wanted to go to the Barcelona Maritime Museum instead.  I love museums, particularly historical museums.  It is more so that Spain is very much a maritime nation and all of its greatness in years past is due to it’s maritime exploits.  Well, it was not much of a debate anyway because … he he he … between Suanne and I, I always win debates.  She is so sweet!

The Barcelona Maritime Museum (known as Museu Marítim de Barcelona) is located in downtown Barcelona not too far from La Rambla.

The entrance costs €13 which also included audio guides for both of us.

The Maritime Museum is located in the building of a very old royal shipyards.  This building dates from the 13th century.  There are exhibits of every kind — from trade, to wars and most importantly of discovery.

Christopher Columbus, with the discovery of the New World, is the man who ushered Spain in as one of the greatest maritime nation in the world.    It was during that time that the Spanish Empire started to extend its tentacles all over the world and exerted its influence, culture and language which had lasted until today.  

They have an extensive exhibition on Columbus and his travels.  Many of the exhibits are in Spanish (Catalan?) but at least we had the audio guide in English.

The above is the model of the three ships which undertook the five week journey in search of Asia.  The ships were Santa Maria, Pinta and Santa Clara.  Santa Maria, the center ship, is the main ship.  I was hoping to learn where this ship is today but sadly it got into an accident and sank not too long after the discovery of the New World.

The discovery of South America brought back riches.  It also introduced many food that today we take for granted without realizing where they originated from.

We were surprised to learned that potatoes and tomatoes are not native to Spain considering that patatas bravas, tortilla de patatas and pa amb tomaquet are some of our favourite spanish breakfast items.

While this museum showcases a lot of the great era of Spanish discovery and conquest, it was understandably very light on events like the defeat of the Spanish Armada in the hands of the Brits at Trafalgar.  To learn about that turning point on the world history, I guess we have to go to London’s Imperial War Museum or the British Museum.  It is the overwhelming destruction of the Spanish Armada that you are reading this blog today in English, not Spanish.  You reckon?

Suanne had very little interest in wars and conquests.  Those are guy things.  Instead she is more interested in modern vessels.  I know because she told me she want to go on a cruise.

We told ourselves that one of these days we must go on a cruise.  The destination is not as important as the cuisine that they serve on board.  Any experts out there?  Which cruise line has the best food experience?  You know?

We spent about 2 hours here.  It is not a very big museum and just has enough to make our visit worthwhile.