Bill&Theresa: Gibraltar

THURSDAY 18-NOV

Rock of Gibraltar

Gibraltar is an odd place. It was once held by the Moors, and changed hands eventually to the Brits around 1700. The Spanish were probably never very fond of having this little peninsula tip in foreign hands, but things got worse in the 80's, and they closed the border. So, Gibraltar was pretty isolated. In order to join the EU, they had to rescind and open the border, so there is a highway/border crossing that looks a bit like the US/Mexican border. Of course, every "important" place needs an airport, but there is only one spot that suits, being level, straight, and approachable...unfortunately it is across the thinnest isthmus, and right near the border. So, the highway crosses the runway, which extends from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. More on that later. I have a lot on the airport, so I'll do that as a separate post, and those who do not care can skip it! :-)

Gibraltar Airport, as viewed from the Rock (Looking North). Spain in the background, Atlantic to the left, and Mediterranean to the right.

We arrived in Gibraltar about 9AM, and again, Theresa and I had chosen to find our own way. The weather was much nicer. The city-state is less than a mile wide in some places, and only a few miles long. So, we planned to take a taxi to the top of the rock and work our way down. As we exited the ship, a tour operator got our attention, and talked us into taking his "tour". Basically, it amounted to about the same price as the taxi we anticipated, but may have saved some time. I can't complain too much about him as a tour guide, but there was a very disturbing turn of events later.

Africa, as seen from Europe.

Theresa in the cave.

We went to the caves, which is tremendous with beautiful formations. The cave is said to be bottomless, in that no one has yet found the lowest point. Legend has it that the cave goes low enough to pass under the Strait to Morocco. It's a nice story, I guess. There is an auditorium inside because one of the "rooms" has great acoustics. (Sorry, none of those pix turned out well.) Just outside of the cave, there were a few of the Barbary Apes, but it wasn't their prime location. Anyway, one of them got into the van, and stole a big bag of corn chips or something, and ran off with it. Interestingly, the driver seemed to know exactly what the ape intended to do. It ran up into the tree, and eventually threw it down and it broke open, and apes came from everywhere to get theirs. It was a good photo op, but on later reflection, we started wondering if perhaps this was not the first time it happened.

Barbary apes eating stolen corn chips.

Awkward silence!

Then we were taken to the place where the apes mostly hung out. It was a striking place, with some spectacular views. Looking over one side, we could see the Mediterranean. On the other side, the Atlantic. As we approached, our tour guide told us we could get pix with one of them sitting on our shoulder or something. As we arrived, the apes went nuts, and jumped all over the van. He shooed them off so we could get out, and then asked if anyone wanted a picture with one of the apes. OK, I'll go! I stood where he told me, and then he got out some french bread. It is illegal to feed the apes, and carries up to a 500 Pound fine (like $800). (The government does actually take care of feeding them.) It sure did not take long to understand why that is. They went ape!! (literally and figuratively) They got aggressive, and it was a scene. Rather than a cute little baby ape hopping up, a bigger one jumped from the van to my head trying to get the bread. That was enough. Then Theresa and I started wondering if this was not a daily routine with him. The apes would not take long to figure out the van with the food. Even the bag of chips was suspect. I won't say it was staged, but I won't say it was not! No tip.

"So, if I take the square root, and divide by two..."

In the 1790's, while fighting Napoleon, they dug tunnels through the rock to place cannons for defense. So, we went into the "Gallery" tunnels. It was very interesting, and afforded some great views (especially the airport!). But, some areas were set up to look like it would have in the 1790's, uniformed mannequins and all. One dark corner had a gate, and something ambiguous behind it...and a motion sensor!! When we walked near it, a startling voice shouted out, "HALT!! WHO GOES THERE!!" I had already seen the mannequin and noticed a light blinking, so it startled me, but it scared the begeezes out of Theresa (which is often fun!).

After the tunnels, we were on our own to walk down the rock to the city. We stopped off for fish and chips, which was actually quite good (not that Fish & Chips would not be expected to be, but this was particularly tasty) and washed it down with nice beer.

We heard this was supposed to be a good place to buy alcohol, so looked at a few shops, planning to get a bottle of Champagne for some morning. [Oh, since we were allowed to have alcohol in our room, I bought a nice bottle of Irish whisky at Heathrow, and enjoyed it many evenings as a relaxing night cap!] But since wine was included with lunch and dinner, it really did not make sense to buy any wine, even though with the duty free, it was pretty cheap.

Then we headed to the Gibraltar Crystal outlet for a gift for our friends watching Lady (our dog), and found a post card. We headed to the airport, close to the Spanish border, and back to the ship. McDonald's was too far away, so not this time!

The British "Union", Gibraltar, and EU flags with the runway and Spain behind.