Portrait of Mirador de Colom

©Esme Fox/Lonely Planet

Mirador de Colom

Barcelona


High above the swirl of traffic navigating the roundabout at the southern end of La Rambla, Christopher Columbus keeps permanent watch, pointing vaguely out to the Mediterranean from this Corinthian-style iron column built for the 1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition. Zip up 60m in a lift for a bird’s-eye view back up La Rambla and across Barcelona's ports. You can also enjoy a wine tasting afterwards in the cellar underneath (€8 for lift and wine).

It was in Barcelona that Columbus allegedly gave the delighted Catholic Monarchs a report of his first explorations in the Americas after his voyage in 1492.


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