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| fancy digs for a tourist bureau |
Barcelona's aquarium bills itself as the largest in Europe. In terms of exhibit space, it doesn't seem bigger than Cité de la Mer, but then Cherbourg's aquarium has an entire ballistic missile nuclear submarine within its area. On the other hand, l'Aquàrium de Barcelona has far more tanks and fish, so perhaps they have a point. It's easy to see where the Ripley's Aquarium in Toronto got its inspiration - the layout, signage, and giant conveyor belt under the big tank were all pretty much the same between the two aquaria. Andrew was glad to get reacquainted with the reef sharks (this time both black-tipped and white-tipped).To get to the Aquarium, we came out of the Drassanes Metro stop and walked down past the tourist bureau, located in the base of the giant Mirador de Colom monument to Christopher Columbus, and over the Rambla de Mar bridge. Catamarans for the 2-man-team around-the-world endurance race were moored at the harbour near the bridge. The harbourfront was busy, even on a Sunday, as all the stores in the mall were open, and lots of people were going to the Aquarium and the movie theatre. It's a vibrant and modern waterfront bordered by interesting buildings and not too marred by the industrial port facilities as you look seaward.
Leaving the Aquarium, we followed the roadway north-east until we came to the Parc de la Ciutaella, site of the Catalonian Parliament. The park also hosts a population of wild parrots, the local zoo, and various other buildings. We strolled along past orange trees and the big fountain (reminiscent of the Palais Longchamps in Marseille) and up the promenade to the Arc de Triomf that I mentioned in the previous post. From there we caught the Metro back to our hotel.
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