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Are they moving, or frozen still? Barcelona's amazing living statues on bikes in La Ramblas
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Not the kind of rig you see often. The museum has full-size craft on display
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Juan de Austria's Lepanto "galera"
Truly awesome.
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I had the good fortune this week to make a flying visit to Barcelona. Given my well-known interest in boats, I made a detour into the Maritime Museum on the seafront, which proved well worth the visit. You'll find it in the Av. de les Drassanes, a short walk from the foot of a major thoroughfare called La Ramblas, probably one of the most interesting streets in the world. They take the living statues idea one step further into living events. In this case bikes rather than boats.
A submarine greets you at the entrance to the museum powered by pedals - the submarine, not the museum. Can you imagine going to sea in a contraption like that? Not for me, thank you.
Further along, the seafront, was all spruced up along with everything else in the city for the 1992 Olympics. Impressive place, Barcelona - and that's before you start looking around!
The Maritime Museum itself is housed in the Drassanes Reals, the former royal shipyards, built between 1283 and 1328, and a superb example of Gothic architecture. Although its on the seafront, the only thing lapping its walls today is the rush-hour traffic, which swirls round the statue of Columbus, a short distance away.
Inside the museum, they hand you headphones and a Walkman and point you off to discover the museum for yourself. As the exhibit captions are in Spanish it is well worth taking the audio aid which really enhances the experience.
The initial area is devoted to fishing boats with some gorgeous small boats. I was particularly struck by the rudder on this one which sweeps under the boat in a very curious manner. The square sail and hefty oars have a rustic character that still manages to charm the socks off anyone with the slightest taste of salt in their blood.
The centre-piece of the museum, however, is a huge full-size replica of Juan de Austria's Lepanto "galera", which you have to stroll right round in order to complete the tour, and in order to be able to go up on board, you climb two flights of stairs where the full impact can be seen.
At first glance I thought what a pity there isn't room for the mast... Until I got up the steps and on to the deck, and then it twigged: Galera - galley, right! They rowed these things! The 'slaves' were chained in sets of four to the enormous oars. The crew propelled this beautiful craft, probably with little time to appreciate the visual appeal of their vessel.
If you are in Barcelona I urge a trip to this museum. Quite different to our own National Maritime in Greenwich.
