Statue of Christopher Columbus in Barcelona (D. Preis)

Replica of the Santa Maria (D. Preis)

Christopher Columbus arrives in America, or, more exactly, one of the islands in the Bahamas.  A group of three ships, the Santa Maria, the Pinta and the Niña, left Spain on 3 August.  They first sailed to the Canary Islands.  From there, the journey across the Atlantic took 5 weeks.

In October 1977, I visited a replica of the Santa Maria, the largest of  the three ships, in Barcelona – and was amazed how small it was.  In the photo on the right you can see Columbus pointing the way over my head.

Dorothea Preis

Tags: New World, Spain