Gibraltar
Mum and Dad went to Gibraltar the year before I was born and I was keen to go and hear mum reminisce about a time when they were a young couple without a care in the world(!). I double and triple-checked my passport's presence before setting off and we drove to La Linea de la Concepcion, the town on the Spanish side of the border. When mum was last here there was no border and travel between countries was practically impossible (I read a book by Simon Winchester called 'Outposts' written in the early '80s where he had to get a boat from Spain to Morocco and then catch another boat to Gibraltar because there was no other way of getting there).
Now border control has been lessened slightly and you now only have to go through the arduous process of either queueing up to drive across or, slightly more difficult, find somewhere to park that isn't ripping you off in La Linea and walk across, waving your passport at two Customs and Immigrations guys. It was so stressful(!!).
Having safely crossed the border we then had to traverse the airport runway. No, I'm not kidding. We had to walk across the entire width of the commercial runway to reach the town. The runway is built (I believe) on reclaimed land and is built on the only flat part of the peninsula (reminds me of the Faroe Islands!) and had to avoid Spanish land, water and airspace!
We walked through the town towards the rock, which really does dominate the skyline.
(the town is on the far side, on the tiny bit of flattish land. What attracts the brits to such crazy, uninhabitable places - Gibraltar (a rock), Ascension Island (an extinct volcano), the Falklands (a series of peat moors)? I know the answer really - they were all strategically important when we had an Empire but honestly, are there really no strategically important places with things like fertile soil?)
We had lunch at the first British-style pup I'd felt comfortable in since we'd left the UK then went to the cable car to get to the top of the rock. It turned out to be rather expensive and the card readers weren't working so we went for the cheaper option of having me walk down rather than get the cable car (I wanted to visit the Moorish castle halfway down anyway).
We saw a couple of barbary apes on the way up (not actually apes but tailess monkeys apparently) which was quite exciting, but they turned out to be one of those things which is much more numerous than you expected and you quickly get bored of them. Especially when it turns out that they've been spoilt rotten by supersitious Gibraltans and stupid tourists in seach of that perfect photo (and instead end up with a bitten hand). The apes/monkeys have the same status of the ravens in the Tower of London - Gibraltar will always remain British while they remain on the island. To prevent them dying of starvation (not likely, although diabetes and heart disease may be possible for some of them) they are fed fruit and veg at various sites on the rock. Despite signs telling people not to feed them no-one pays any attention and some have got very, what's the word . . . , assertive when it comes to food. They will come and grab people's ice-creams whether offered or not. I didn't really like them.
We walked to St Michael's Cave which is a bit like the caves at Cheddar Gorge. The stalagmites and stalagtites were really impressive and the cave was lovely and cool. (It was a scorcher of a day and I was downing water at an incredibly rate. I think i drank over 3 litres that afternoon alone).
After the caves I split from mum and Steve and began walking down the Rock towards the Moorish castle. I passed several driveways to houses and noticed a lot of gardens had aviaries which I found unusual. The houses were well hidden from view by trees and bushes and I figured the elite probably lived up here, away from the hoi polloi.
The Moorish castle was really just a tower. It was the line of last defence and was little more than a tube with very, very thick walls. There were a couple of floors and there were some rooms - washroom, prayer-room, etc, - but it wasn't designed to be lived in for long periods of time - a few days at most.
It was built in the 14th century and there are impact craters visible on the walls from times when it was in action. It was an impressive place, despite its simplicity.
I walked down the rock and met up with mum and Steve. It was far too hot to want to eat and we were pretty much done so we decided to head back to Spain and get some food when it had cooled down and we were closer to home.
However, something happened that changed our plans . . .
Now border control has been lessened slightly and you now only have to go through the arduous process of either queueing up to drive across or, slightly more difficult, find somewhere to park that isn't ripping you off in La Linea and walk across, waving your passport at two Customs and Immigrations guys. It was so stressful(!!).
Having safely crossed the border we then had to traverse the airport runway. No, I'm not kidding. We had to walk across the entire width of the commercial runway to reach the town. The runway is built (I believe) on reclaimed land and is built on the only flat part of the peninsula (reminds me of the Faroe Islands!) and had to avoid Spanish land, water and airspace!
We walked through the town towards the rock, which really does dominate the skyline.
(the town is on the far side, on the tiny bit of flattish land. What attracts the brits to such crazy, uninhabitable places - Gibraltar (a rock), Ascension Island (an extinct volcano), the Falklands (a series of peat moors)? I know the answer really - they were all strategically important when we had an Empire but honestly, are there really no strategically important places with things like fertile soil?)We had lunch at the first British-style pup I'd felt comfortable in since we'd left the UK then went to the cable car to get to the top of the rock. It turned out to be rather expensive and the card readers weren't working so we went for the cheaper option of having me walk down rather than get the cable car (I wanted to visit the Moorish castle halfway down anyway).
We saw a couple of barbary apes on the way up (not actually apes but tailess monkeys apparently) which was quite exciting, but they turned out to be one of those things which is much more numerous than you expected and you quickly get bored of them. Especially when it turns out that they've been spoilt rotten by supersitious Gibraltans and stupid tourists in seach of that perfect photo (and instead end up with a bitten hand). The apes/monkeys have the same status of the ravens in the Tower of London - Gibraltar will always remain British while they remain on the island. To prevent them dying of starvation (not likely, although diabetes and heart disease may be possible for some of them) they are fed fruit and veg at various sites on the rock. Despite signs telling people not to feed them no-one pays any attention and some have got very, what's the word . . . , assertive when it comes to food. They will come and grab people's ice-creams whether offered or not. I didn't really like them.
We walked to St Michael's Cave which is a bit like the caves at Cheddar Gorge. The stalagmites and stalagtites were really impressive and the cave was lovely and cool. (It was a scorcher of a day and I was downing water at an incredibly rate. I think i drank over 3 litres that afternoon alone).After the caves I split from mum and Steve and began walking down the Rock towards the Moorish castle. I passed several driveways to houses and noticed a lot of gardens had aviaries which I found unusual. The houses were well hidden from view by trees and bushes and I figured the elite probably lived up here, away from the hoi polloi.
The Moorish castle was really just a tower. It was the line of last defence and was little more than a tube with very, very thick walls. There were a couple of floors and there were some rooms - washroom, prayer-room, etc, - but it wasn't designed to be lived in for long periods of time - a few days at most.
It was built in the 14th century and there are impact craters visible on the walls from times when it was in action. It was an impressive place, despite its simplicity.I walked down the rock and met up with mum and Steve. It was far too hot to want to eat and we were pretty much done so we decided to head back to Spain and get some food when it had cooled down and we were closer to home.
However, something happened that changed our plans . . .
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