David Whitley heads to the birthplace of modern America, and comes face to face with the world’s most famous explorer.
 
An empty, crunched-up Coke can lies on the grass, perhaps the most fitting piece of litter ever seen. The conquest has gone full circle.

This small park may seem rather unexceptional, but more than 500 years ago it was the scene of something that would change the world as we know it. It’s hard to believe, but the silted-up riverbed that is now being planted over is the birthplace of modern America.

These days, Palos De La Frontera is just a small town in south-west Spain. Nothing much goes on here, and ever since the river dried up, it’s not really had a purpose. In 1492, though, it was the most exciting place in the world to be. Most of the men in the village were about to head to sea, and not all of them would return.

Following lengthy negotiations, a certain Genoese sailor got permission from the Spanish monarchs to take three ships and go exploring from this one-time port. His name? Christopher Columbus.
You start to get inklings of this by standing outside the church that overlooks the park. The Iglesia de San Jorge was where the crew – two-thirds of whom came from Palos – took communion prior to sailing, and it is decorated with plaques. All say, to all intents and purposes, ‘Columbus Woz ‘Ere’.
It’s all very pretty, but you don’t really get a good grasp of its historic importance until you start walking up the road to La Rabida. On each side of the road, spaced out almost as road markers, are tile paintings. Each one is saying thanks to the town, and each one is from somewhere different. They’re all from different regions of Spain, which makes it come across at first as a Government initiative to ensure that everybody gets on. However, further down, things get a little more exotic. There are tributes from El Salvador, Bolivia, Peru, Columbia, Mexico, The United States… The whole of the Americas is nodding to those who found it.

At the end of the walk is La Rabida, home of a monastery that is also central to the Columbus tale. To get an idea of how important it is, you have to understand that, at the time, funding a hugely expensive expedition to find a new route to the East Indies wasn’t exactly thought to be the wisest of plans. Spain was yet to hit the peak of its powers, and the trip would be a big drain on the treasury.
When this proposal comes from a foreigner, it’s understandable that it will be looked on with great suspicions. 

However, Columbus managed to convince the right man. One of the monks at the La Rabida monastery was a most trusted advisor to the queen, and he eventually swung the vote. Plenty of discussions took place at the monastery, and now it is largely devoted to the discovery of ‘The Americas’.

Throughout the building, set among gardens and orange groves, are paintings of people with increasingly tenuous links to the story. Columbus himself strikes a Christ-like pose upon landing in San Salvador, while the monarchs, crew and boat owners all look suitably serious.
Amongst the art and religious iconography is an explanation of what happened; the routes Columbus took on his voyages, the maps that came about as a result, and the flags of the countries that soon took shape afterwards.

It’s all very sombre, and fascinating, but when you’ve got Columbus’ ships just around the corner, you can be forgiven for having your mind elsewhere.

Yes, those giant conquerors of oceans (or at least the full size replicas of them) can be found at the Wharf of the Caravels, at the La Rabida site. They were built for the 500th anniversary celebrations in 1992, and then ceremoniously sailed by a modern crew along the route that Columbus took. As you walk down from the monastery, you half expect to see towering, attention-grabbing masts dominating the horizon, the sort of thing that would be necessary for a voyage of this magnitude. They’re not there, though, and it comes as an almighty shock to see just how tiny Columbus’ three ships were.

They’re not really much bigger than private yachts, albeit without any of the mod cons and flashy paint jobs. How on earth they got so far in such primitive conditions is fairly difficult to comprehend.
The biggest of the three is the one that never returned. Columbus’ main vessel was the Santa Maria, which he captained. It was backed up by the even smaller Pinta and Niña vessels, which were left in the hands of the Pinzón brothers from Palos. Good job too, as Columbus managed to leave the Santa Maria crunched into the shoreline of what is now Haiti. Necessity dictated that not all of the crew could return to Spain, and the remains of the ship were used to build the first European settlement. Fort Navidad became the unexpected new home of the brave, stranded men of Palos.

The inside of the replica ship has been filled with models to give an idea of what conditions were like on board. Most are slaving away on deck, or in the galley, while a grey-haired man sits at a desk, writing notes. A lantern hangs over it, while a few wooden slats by the side make do as a bed. The captain’s table, it’s fair to say, isn’t particularly glamorous. Luxury thrown aside though, it’s pretty special to come face to face with the man who changed the world as we know it. Even if his ship isn’t nearly as impressive as it should be…
 

Palos de la Frontera is 10km from the city of Huelva in south-west Spain. The nearest international airports are Seville or over the Portuguese border in Faro. A bus to both Palos and La Rabida can be caught at Huelva’s bus station. The buses aren’t particularly regular though, and it might be worth walking the four kilometres from Palos to La Rabida rather than waiting for a bus.
The La Rabida monastery (Tel: 00 34 959 350 411) is open from Tuesday to Saturday all year round, but make sure you don’t get there during the mid-afternoon siesta, or you’ll do a lot of waiting around. Tours (conducted in Spanish) and English audioguides are available.
The Wharf of the Caravels (Tel: 00 34 959 530 597) is open every day except Monday, and only takes the siesta during summer.
While in Palos, you can also go to the house of the Pinzón brothers, which has been turned into a small museum.