I can’t resist a maritime museum so this was a must visit for me. Featuring mostly large scale-model ships; a replica ‘royal barge’; and restored regional fishing boats (open sail/row boats) the museum also makes interesting use of containers to house some features, including multi-media presentations (voice in Spanish or Catalan – not sure which – but English-language subtitles also). The building that houses the museum is the magnificently restored former Barcelona Royal Shipyards, and is a feature in its own right. There’s an area covering the first world war at sea as it affected Spain – particularly the effect of German submarine and surface raider vessels to ‘stop and search’ vessels from neutral countries (including Spain) and, where the cargo was considered ‘contraband’ (any form of ‘supplies’ whether food or coal was contraband) the vessel would be sunk. The effect on the Spanish economy related to shipping activity was very interesting – with a mix of positive and negative. The small +65 entrance fee of only 3Euro50 included entry to the schooner Santa Eulalia – a short walk away.
The schooner Santa Eulalia is a short walk along the harbour front and adds that wee bit extra to the exhibition (appears to do limited runs to sea on Saturdays, book in advance!)
