56. Barcelona - The Waterfront: Port Vell; Maritime Museum; Museum of Catalonian History

Port Vell ('Old Port' in Catalunyan) adjoins Barceloneta. Once an industrial dockyard it is now a haven for expensive yachts and there are major re-developments including a large shopping centre, IMAX cinema, promenades.

Below: An extension of Las Ramblas, newly built, is the Rambla de Mar, a pedestrian walkway leading to the shopping centre Maremagnum, aquarium and IMAX. The statue, inspired by Nelson;s Column in London, is the Monument a Colom (monument to Christopher Columbus) erected for the 1888 Universal Exhibition. Though WHY I am still wondering about; Columbus didn't have anything to do with Barcelona. (2006)

Below: One afternoon we came across a band, Barrio Candela, playing their infectious brand of Latin-Reggae fusion. Here's Tomás on peercussion, and Gonzapa on alto sax. Download some of their songs from their site, and check them out on You Tube! And here. They are fabulous.

Below: Barrio Candela prompts by-standers to get dancing (2008)
Below: And this young woman sold their CD for €10 (yes, we bought!)

Below: Getting taken for a skate by the dog (2008)
Below: Barcelona Head by Roy Lichtenstein. Echoing Barcelona's favourite son, Antoni Gaudi's technique of trencadis tiling - smashing up ceramics and piecing them together, Lichtenstein created this from coloured ceramic tiles (2006)
Below: Barcelona's own Big Lobster, Gambrinus by Javier Mariscal. Mariscal designed Cobi, the mascot of the 1992 Olympics. It once marked the Gambrinus cafe and bar, now closed.

Below: Port Vell with Montjuïc behind. The Olympic stadium, pool and other facilities are on Montjuïc. (2006)
Below: The marina of Port Vell. You can just see the gondola cableway which links Barceloneta and Montjuïc. (2008)

Below: Port Vell. The intermediary cableway station is at the World Trade Centre. The cableway was constructed for the 1929 World Fair. (2008)
Below: Port Vell with the pedestrianised Moll de la Fusta, a seaside promenade. (2008)
Below: To the right the Palau de Mar, former warehouses, which have now been refurbished to house restaurants and the excellent Museu d'Història de Catalunya (2008)
Below: The Palau de Mar (2006) , the refurbished 19th century warehouse
Below: The Museu d'Història de Catalunya covers Catlalunyan history from the Palaeolithic era right up to 1980 and the re-establishment of semi-autonomous Catalunya. It's a fabulous place, a museum of social and political history, with explanations in English and Spanish as well as Catalunyan. Here's a typical 1930s kitchen (2008)
Below: A kitchen updated to the 1950s (2008)
Below: A typical 1960s bar (2008)

Below: Presidential table and chairs from the Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya (Palace of the Parliament of Catalunya
Below: Inside the Museu Marítim, in the old medieval shipyards (Drassanes) , members of the Friends of the Museum make model ships.

Below: The Drassanes, the refurbished shipyard. They used to be right on the sea.
Below: The vaults of the Drassanes, and a reconstruction of La Real, Don Juanse Austria's flagship at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, in which the Muslim Ottoman Empire was prevented from controlling the Mediterranean.