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The Rock of Gibraltar is at the bottom of Spain but it is not part of Spain - go figure!
At the end of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1713, Spain ceded the territory of Gibraltar to Britain as part of a Peace Treaty. The territory is one of the most densely fortified and fought-over places in Europe. A large British naval base was constructed in Gibraltar at the end of the nineteenth century and this fact enabled the allies to control the entrance to the Mediterranean during the Second World War. Today most British forces have left the territory and the economy is now based on tourism. It is one of the wealthiest areas of the European Union.
The history of the area is interesting but we were here for the sole purpose of tourism.
We rode our bike to the Gibraltar Border Control checkpoint not sure if entry would be easy or difficult - some people had told us that entry by vehicle could take up to 3 hours. Not today! There were only 2 cars in front of us. We were guided to the side of the checkpoint and after a very quick perusal of our passports we were waved through. We had to ride directly across the airport runway - planes have right of way for obvious reasons. We passed some of the fortifications of the town still in place but no longer used.
Our destination was a parking area at the base of the Cable Car which would be our transport to the top of The Rock. After parting with 15.5 Euro each it was up to the top of The Rock of Gibraltar for great views of the city below us, the marinas and even Morocco in North Africa. We found a couple of monkeys and took some photos before settling in for a coffee while enjoying the views.
After exhausting the viewing spots we boarded the Cable Car for our return trip to the bottom. We found a British Pub style restaurant for a fish and chips lunch.
On the way back to our hotel in Algeciras we stopped and bought some ferry tickets for our trip tomorrow??????
- comments
Christopher so monkey do but monkey doesn't see the venue for tomorrow and this is the mute monkey so they will have to wait
Craig and Marg I always thought the Rock was a little more barren so the photos are a surprise. It appears the weather played the game thankfully. Very nice