The Barcelona Maritime Museum should not be missed. It is housed in the former royal shipyards, Drassanes Reals, which were built between 1283 and 1328.

These are the original buildings and the section of the building that faces the sea was originally right on the sea edge for ease of launching the ships. It is a superb example of Gothic architecture. The statue of Columbus is a short distance away as is the sea end of the Ramblas.

The centre piece of the museum that I found amazing is the huge full-size replica of a Mediterranean Man of war Galley, the Juan de Austria's Lepanto 'galera'. On deck you get a brief 3D virtual reality show of the crew, chained four-by-four to their benches for months on end. It was said you could smell them before you could see them.

Many of the crew were Turkish slaves, criminals and prisoners of war. The advantage of being a vessel powered by oars was that it could sail into the wind and escape other larger sailing vessels that were unable to go against the wind. It could also still make headway when the sea was flat calm and there were no winds.

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