Rambla del Mar

At the bottom of the Rambla de Santa Mònica is the Porta de la Pau (Peace Gate). Near the Drassanes (shipyards) rises the monument to Christopher Columbus, commemorating the fact that the port of arrival after his first return voyage from America and the site of his first audience with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella was Barcelona. The monument, built in 1886 by the architect Gaietà Buigas, is a great iron column on a stone base topped by a statue of the navigator. Inside the monument there is a lift that takes you up to the crown beneath the statue, from where you can enjoy a good view of the port, Montjuïc, the Drassanes and the city as a whole.

Crossing over Passeig de Colom, next to the Port Autònom (Autonomous Port) building, a wavy wooden walkway, known as the Rambla del Mar (Rambla of the Sea), stretches out over the water to the wharf opposite, the Moll d'Espanya. This jetty, designed by Helio Piñon and Albert Viaplana, came into use in September 1994.

Coming as it does at the end of a roadway as ancient, historic and colourful as the Barcelona Rambla - a street that is quite unique - the Rambla del Mar is a welcome innovation, taking its place among the great renovation projects to open up the city to the sea, and offering the inhabitants of Barcelona and visitors to the city an opportunity to enjoy the sea first-hand.