Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Museu Marítim
Av. de les Drassanes • Daily 10am-8pm • €7, under-7s free, plus free on Sun after 3pm • 933 429 920,
mmb.cat
• Drassanes
Barcelona's medieval shipyards, or
Drassanes
, were in continuous use - fitting and arming
Catalunya's war fleet or trading vessels - until well into the eighteenth century. The unique
stone-vaulted buildings make a fitting home for the city's
Museu Marítim
(Maritime Mu-
seum),thoughongoingrenovations(probablyuntillate2014)currentlylimitaccesstooneor
two changing exhibitions that draw on the museum collections, and the shop, café and
Santa
Eulàlia
exhibit.
Santa Eulàlia
April-Oct Tues-Fri, Sun & hols 10am-8.30pm, Sat 2-8.30pm; Nov-March Tues-Fri, Sun & hols
10am-5.30pm, Sat 2-5.30pm; sailing excursions Sat 10am-1pm (reservations essential, by phone or email) •
€1, free with Museu Marítim ticket •
reserves.mmaritim@diba.cat
MooredoverontheMolldelaFusta (beyondtheharbour'sswingbridge),the
SantaEulàlia
is one of the Maritime Museum's showpiece exhibits. Dating from 1908, and previously
namedthe
CarmenFlores
,thethree-masted oceanschooneroncemadetherunbetweenBar-
celona 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. It still sets sail on Saturdays, taking passen-
gers on short harbour and coastal jaunts.
Port Vell
Drassanes/Barceloneta
Barcelona's remodelled inner harbour, known as
Port Vell
(Old Port), has its local critics
- it's undoubtedly touristy and expensive - but there's no denying the improvement made
to what was formerly a decaying harbourside. The city's old timber wharf, for example, the
Moll de la Fusta
, re-emerged as 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
RoyLichtenstein
totem-pole sculpture known as
BarcelonaHead
. From the Colum-
bus statue end of the wharf, the wooden
Rambla de Mar
swing bridge strides across to the
Moll d'Espanya
, whose main features are the
Maremàgnum
mall, aquarium and IMAX
cinema. From here, it's only a ten-minute walk around the
marina
to the
Palau de Mar
and
the Catalan history museum.