If you're looking for fresh fish or Spanish sherry, you'll find it in the town we're looking for in today's Geo Quiz. Christopher Columbus lived in this town for several years. In fact one of the three boats he sailed from Spain in 1492 shares its name with the town in question. It's not the Nina, or the Pinta. That leaves the Santa Maria.
So the answer is: El Puerto de Santa Maria.
Hayley Salvo tells us more.
You can smell the Mercado de la Concepcion from blocks away. That's because this market, in El Puerto de Santa Maria, is full of fresh seafood, from buckets of shrimp and slabs of pink tuna to loads of slimy squid. But fresh fish isn't the only thing this town is known for.
"Well, Puerto de Santa Maria is famous today, for, well, good sherry, and also it's about fish, good fish, fresh fish and Christopher Columbo."
That's Juan Galindo, a tour guide and historian at the San Marcos castle. Christopher Columbus lived here in the 1480s. Back in the 15th century, El Puerto was filled with fishermen, sailors, carpenters and cartographers... the perfect place for a navigator with big ideas.
"The big reason why Christopher Columbus came here first was to convince the Duke of Medinacelli. Because his project was presented to Juan II of Portugal, but Juan II of Portugal didn't believe Christopher Columbo. And this was the reason why Christopher Columbo moved to Puerto de Santa Maria in Spain. "
Columbus, as you probably remember, had the idea that he could sail west across the Atlantic to reach India. The Duke of Medinacelli, who owned San Marco castle, became Columbus's patron. He provided introductions to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella who agreed to fund Columbus's somewhat misguided expedition.
Today El Puerto is a small, but modern town, with a large mall, lots of bodegas, or wineries and a major highway running through it. And right off that highway is a relic from the past.
In El Puerto you can find traces of Columbus around every corner. I'm standing in the middle of a roundabout with cars whizzing by. There's a MacDonald's to my right, a gas station to my left, and literally right in front of me an exact replica of La Nina, the smallest of Columbus' three ships that first sailed to America in 1492.
This reproduction of the Nina was built in 1992 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Columbus' voyage. Artisans here in Puerto built the original Nina. And if you're looking to walk further in Columbus' footsteps, you can stroll through the Plaza named in his honor or marvel at the "mapamundi." It's the 500 year old map by cartographer and Santa Maria ship captain Juan de La Cosa. It's the oldest existing European map that includes coastlines of the Americas. Or, if that all sounds too exhausting; you can grab some sherry and head for the beach.
