Maritime Museum Barcelona

Barcelona quickly became one of my favourite places for a weekend away from London.

There's lots to see and eat, and I just loved walking around the old quarter listening the buskers and soaking up the atmosphere before finding a good place for some tapas.

One afternoon was spent in the Maritime Museum and I'd certainly recommend it to any boaties visiting that city. For one thing, the city was crazy packed but the museum was an oasis of calm.

They have a number of interesting boats on display including this full sized replica of Don Juan of Austria's 16th century galley (above).

There were lots of other boats, both working and leisure, on display, plus exhibitions on specific topics (photography and toy boats when I was there).

The recently restored building itself is lovely, the Barcelona Royal Shipyards, where boats were built for hundreds of years.