Mirador de Colom

High above the swirl of traffic on the roundabout below, a pigeon-poop-coiffed Columbus keeps permanent watch, pointing vaguely out to the Mediterranean (to his home town of Genoa?). Built for the Universal Exhibition in 1888, the monument allows you to zip up 60m in the lift for bird’s-eye views back up La Rambla and across the ports of Barcelona. It was in Barcelona that Columbus allegedly gave the delighted Catholic monarchs a report of his first discoveries in the Americas after his voyage in 1492. In the 19th century, it was popularly believed here that Columbus was one of Barcelona’s most illustrious sons. Some historians still make that claim.