Monday in Gibraltor

We arrived in Gibraltar right on time, and as we have come to expect, it was raining. When you get to Gibraltar you find a big rock, with a town down below it. The ship docked on the west side of the isthmus close to town. We had breakfast in our room and then headed off the boat to meet up with tour people. Eight of us went in this small van to tour the rock. The Streets in Gibraltar are very narrow and it was still rush hour at 8:30 AM, so it took us awhile to get up on the Rock.

Gibraltar is a British enclave and is barely 6 square Kilometers. About 5 miles square. At the southern extreme of the isthmus there is the Punta Europa lighthouse. From this point to the African coast it is only 14 kilometers, about 11.5 miles. Gibraltar is connected to Spain by a road that runs across the only runway at the airport and I mean intersects it so at times it is a runway and other times it is a highway.


They have discovered that there have been humans on the Rock since around 50,000 BC. The Greeks called Gibraltar Mount Caipe, and it signaled the westward limit to the first navigators coming from the east. Mount Caipe and Mount Abila, in Africa, were called the pillars Hercules. In 711 a Moorish army let by Tarig ibn Aezad crossed over from North Africa and began the conquest of Spain for Islam. The name, Gibraltar, is derived from “Gebel-Tarik”, which means Tariq’s Rock.


The Rock was occupied by the Muslims in 711, and in 1160 Abdul Memen, Calip of Morocco and father of Hannibal, founded the city and made it a fortress. It belonged to Spain for awhile and then Great Britain became the landlord. Between 1779 and 1783 the Great Siege took place. 33,000 Spanish forces faced a garrison of 7,000 men and the siege lasted over 3 years. It was a strong naval base for the British in both the First and Second World Wars. General Eisenhower planned the 1942 invasion of North Africa here and it was the jumping off point for the American troops.


OK, enough history. Our first stop on the tour was at the southern end of the isthmus. This is where the Punta Europa Lighthouse is located along with the al-Ibrahim Mosque. We were still on the lower part and Judi said, “this is not bad and I guess we are not going on up.” I just smiled and away we went. The roads are narrow, slick with rain and windy, and uphill with no guard rails. Judi was so happy. !!!! Our next stop was St. Michael’s cave. It was magnificent as to its formations. They hold concerts in one of the chambers. There is one large cave connected to smaller ones by passage-ways. They found one during some demolition work down lower with a small lake. Legend has it that there are passage ways linking caves all the way to Africa.  At the top, on a clear day, you can see Morocco.

The monkeys or “the Barbary Apes” as they are called are really monkeys without tails. Legend has it that the Monkeys came to the Rock by the caves, under the strait of Gibraltar, from Africa.  At the present time there are more than 100 of them.  The government is responsible for their care.  They have their own wing in the local Army hospital.  They are all have names.  We did not have any problems with them, but they have been known to bite and grab purses and camera from people. The guide said you do not get them back. Legend has it that the Brits will retain the Rock as long as the Apes live there.

We went over the highest point on the rock. It is about 1,400 feet. The east side is a very sheer face on the rock. From here we went to the Siege Tunnel. When they started digging it with pick crow bars and blasting powder, some of the men got sick from the fumes so they blasted a hole out the side. Lo and behold they found that this would be a good place for a cannon. So they did this at intervals and brought cannons up to defend the passage.


After the tour we had the guide drop us in city center. We wandered the main area for awhile, but you can only look at so many liquor stores, jewelry stores and drug stores. A little after 11:00 AM we headed for a fish and chips restaurant. We ended up at Joe’s Place. It is on the square in the Old City. The fish and chips were great and so was the pint.


Now it was time to head back to the ship. We went up to the spa for a sauna for me and the steam room for Judi. We came back to the room and decided that the menu looked awful and we also did not want to go formal again so soon. So we ordered pizza in and just chilled out for the evening. While we were waiting for the pizza, they came on the PA looking for two ladies that had not checked in. The made a second announcement about ten minutes before we shoved off. We left 30 minutes late, but do not know if they were onboard or not. The weather cleared as we departed Gibraltar. We are now in the Mediteranean Sea on our way to Alicante, Spain, out next port of call.  I hope it stays dry.