Museo Naval

I had time for one more museum before leaving this beautiful city but first I got together with Lisa to try a bit of the local dim sum (not bad) and a quick visit to one of the many rooftop terraces that Madrid is famous for. While getting a bit of dessert at one proved to be trickier than we anticipated, we had fun roaming around the area around Plaza de España, and the views, once we did manage to find a place, were spectacular.

The heat, however, was also spectacular which is why I ended up heading to an air-conditioned museum that surprised me a lot. The Naval Museum (Museo Naval) is housed in one of those grand public buildings that line Paseo del Prado, though I almost missed it since its façade was hidden by a wall of scaffolding. The museum shares the building with the Cuartel General de la Armada, the actual headquarters of the Spanish navy, so the chances one will bump into an admiral or two are higher than zero. For me, however, they were still zero.

What I did get to see, however, were many models of ships, ranging from those of the armada of Ferdinand and Isabella to modern day military carriers. I’ll let you guess which ones I found more interesting. Honestly, for someone who is as much of a pacifist as I am, I have spent an awful time exploring and sometimes even fawning over exhibits dedicated to the various ways of ending the existence of one’s foes. This museum wasn’t much different but models! Ship models! Super detailed ship models and miniatures! I really do must get myself a model of my own one day to satiate this ridiculous need for anything miniaturized. I certainly saw enough ships to help me decide which kind I’d like to have in the future (hint: the old Spanish armada galleons are awesome).

The museum itself is centered around two large rooms with very high ceilings and beautiful skylights, and a number of smaller rooms where it’s very easy to get lost. Thank goodness for the ever-present floor arrows guiding visitors around. The two large rooms were home to the largest models, as well, so my pictures of them are rather awkward. This is also where various nautical figureheads are mounted; I assume these were to-scale but I’m not sure.

I’m sure I spent way too much time here but I really did find the models fascinating, including the interior of a ship which you could peek into through a porthole and get a better sense of what it was like onboard one of these amazing vessels.

A really nice touch, purposeful or not I am not sure, was a set of wooden stairs leading down from the second floor, that smelled and sounded so authentic, I felt transported to a real ship somewhere. The creaking noises were so real I expected Captain Jack Sparrow to jump out and scare me at the bottom. Alas, that did not happen, but there was a very nice gift shop I’ve promised myself to go back to one day soon in order to purchase some prints. I would have bought them right there and then but even though their weight wasn’t a problem, their shape (a roll) and size (hence the roll) just wouldn’t work this time around. Sometimes travelling with a suitcase and weight limits can be a real drag.