Portrait of Mirador de Colom

©Esme Fox/Lonely Planet

Mirador de Colom

Barcelona

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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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