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Saving the best 'till last.
This is a late update - we have already been one sea day since leaving Gibraltar and are on our last full day at sea before returning to Southampton at 0700 tomorrow morning.I have spent some time thinking about what to write with regards to our visit to Gibraltar.
What a special little place it is..... it is by far my favourite stop of this holiday and, potentially, one of the top stops we have ever had.
We arrived as the sun was rising and knew that we only had until 15:30 to see as much of the rock as we possible could. Initially, this did not seem too difficult a task because, after all, the Rock is only two square miles in size. With a population of over 30,000 in that small space, you can get an idea of just how busy it was.
What struck us first as we docked was the apartment buildings clearly visible on the lower portions of the rock. There is not much flat ground on which to build and, with such a hefty population, apartments are going to be more feasible than houses!
There are houses though.....dotted along the higher edges of the rock and built into it's structure. These would be the premium price homes and, likely, out of range in price for any but the very wealthy.
Despite the amount of apartment buildings and other structures crammed onto the lower part of Gibraltar's rocky surface.....it looked beautiful. A little Hong-Kong like in effect with so much crammed into a small space but, like Hong Kong, it works and it fits.
We left the ship as soon as we were able which was around 0900am and then all four of us walked the 15 minute or so route into the City centre. Being British, the language spoken on Gibraltar is, predominantly, English but a lot of the store owners and locals are, and were speaking in, Spanish.
The shops were a mix of local, Spanish looking places and also High street shops that you would expect to find in any city Centre in England. The prices were cheap....very very cheap. There is no duty free what so ever to pay in Gibraltar and we saw lots of our fellow sailors stocking up on alcohol which was so well priced it would have been daft not to take advantage. We didn't go mad, David bought a couple of spirits he has not seen in England for a long time.
David and I wanted to take the cable car up the rock and explore, on foot, the higher levels, Castle and world war two tunnels which were hidden within it's surface. Barbara did not fancy the walk or the cable car ride and so Gary and her opted for a minibus tour which would take them up the rock and to all the places we planned to visit but without so much walking.
We figured, being only 2 square miles in size....it could not be that big on the top of the rock!
The cable car ride itself was brilliant and took around six minutes to reach the top. I had bought my zoom lens with me because of the hope that I would be able to capture at lest one of the Rock's star residents.....The tailless, Barbary Apes.
Once we reached the top and started to wander around it became apparent very quickly that Barbara and Gary had made the right decision for themselves with regard to taking the easier minibus tour. The Rock is steep and, in places, we were clambering hand over foot to reach vantage points which allowed gorgeous views over the harbour.
It also became quickly apparent that the zoom lens was going to be of no use to me. The apes are not shy, not in the slightest and they happily sat within touching distance (often closer!!) which allowed for some cracking photographs to be taken. David was watching me take one photograph when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Thinking he was in the way of someone else he turned and was met by one of the Apes sitting on the wall behind him with his hand out.
The Barbary apes are fascinating but are still wild animals. We witnessed a scrap between two males when one went a little too close to his baby. In the commotion which followed, one ape jumped on a lady's shoulder and she screamed and swatted at it like some kind of wailing banshee. As a result, it scratched her. GOOD! I would have slapped her too if she swatted and screamed at me. :-)
After taking countless photographs of the apes, David and I set off on foot down the rock's winding "serpentine" road to try and locate some of the other points of interest we had been told about. It was very very hot and the road, curiously, twisted down and then up again which made it very hard going.
After wandering aimlessly for at least an hour and a half, we found ourselves at a very steep staircase leading straight up and straight down the mountain. I think we must have come to it at just after the halfway point going up. So we climbed it......it was like climbing a staircase built into the side of a steep mountain!
The steps were high and required great effort to lift your foot high enough to reach the next. It was incredibly sapping but also quite fun.
There were Barbary apes sat on the steps are various places and they were happy to allow us to sit next to them so we could take photos. One even jumped onto my back and sat on my rucksack. I did not scream or swat at her and she did not scratch me. :-)
What we noticed later on was that she had unzipped my bag to reveal Little Little who had retreated into the bagf on first seeing her cousins. The retreat was tactical because Little Little is so famous in these parts, they would have grabbed her and run off with her for sure.
Once we reached the top of the steps (we later learned was called the devils stairway) we realised we were completely back where we had started.....we still had not located any of the sights of interest that we desperately wanted to see before going back to the ship!
After a quick drink break (it was so hot) we asked for advice and was told that the quickest way to some of the other places on the rock was to take the Devil's stairway back down and come off at just AFTER the halfway point.
Going down the steps was easier but still slow going because they were so very steep.It took around half an hour to get down to a road which ran horizontally across the steps and this then serpentined round and down the mountain until, finally, we reached the World War two tunnels, siege tunnels and the Moorish castle.
It was interesting to learn how, in the great siege of 1779-1783, British soldiers had carved tunnels into the solid limestone so that cannons could get through to the northern side of the rock.
The world war two tunnels were filled with photographs of the time, including some which detailed the evacuation of local people during the war.Once we had seen the Moorish Castle, David and I completed our descent down the mountain on foot around the serpentine road and then, when we got closer to the bottom, via the rocky steps which lead directly back in to the city.
There is no doubt that, in order to live here, you would need to be okay with steep daily climbs to get to different places!
The stars of the day for us both were the apes. They are not actually apes but are actually tailless monkeys. They are the cheeky and very very cute Barbary Macaques.It is said that when the apes leave Gibraltar, it will no longer be British. Thankfully, the little rascals are going strong!
We had a brilliant day and Barbara and Gary also really enjoyed their taxi/minibus tour which took around an hour and a bit to complete. David and I barely escaped from the rock in time to rush back through town, grab one beer and then hurry back to the ship just before it left dock!
we will most certainly be coming back to this amazing little place....there is so much more to see.
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