Exciting Palos de la Frontera in La Rabida

If holidaymakers are interested in a tranquil vacation spot, Palos de la Frontera would be a great choice. It is a charming village that has quaint whitewashed homes with a well preserved ambience. Palos de la Frontera offers a very picturesque landscape despite a booming agriculture and industry.

Local Ports

Palos de la Frontera was a port which enjoyed the presence of the famous explorer, Christopher Columbus who set off to discover America in 1492; hence, it is called a cradle port.

There is also an old port in Palos de la Frontera and a dock called Muelle de las Carabelas. These were well re-constructed with warehouses for storing goods, canteens and craft shops.

Village offerings

The village of Palos sports a medieval church called San Jorge where sailors were purported to have attended the mass service before commencing their seafaring journey to America. Hence, there is today a small nautical museum which houses many navigational instruments used in the fateful journey.

Close by at about 3.5 kilometers away is La Rabida’s Conjunto Monumental or the famous Route of Columbus. There is also the famous Franciscan Santa Maria monastery where Columbus purportedly spent a few years while preparing for his journey before discovering a shorter route to India; hence, his famous discovery of the America continent. This 14th century monastery beholds a spectacular Gothic-Mudejar cloister with numerous exhibits and seafaring documents from Columbus’ travels.

Tourists would enjoy the three replica ships which Columbus used in his travels; the interiors of these ship replicas are exactly that of the real ships including the food supplies and cargo. There are also well crafted figures of mariners at the ship replicas. One would be amazed at the capability of these small vessels crossing the oceans during those days.

There is another place where history buffs would be able to get more of Columbus’ travels; Sala de Exposicion exhibits 15th century information about Columbus’ shorter sea route discovery to India through the Atlantic Ocean with audio-visuals.

Palos also has Foro Iberoamericano which is a large auditorium that can seat 4,000 people; it was built to commemorate the 500th anniversary of discovering America.

Tranquil offerings

Tourists and nature lovers would enjoy a leisure stroll through Jose Celetino Mutis Botanical Park. This is a very well maintained botanical garden with numerous Latin American flora and a lake that has plenty of water plants. There is also an outdoor museum which showcases various sculptures.