Europe: Gibraltar 2025

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone."

Neale Donald Walsch

On November 10th and 11th, while travelling in Spain, Melanie & I took a short diversion to that other British colony endearingly known as 'The Rock'....

Gibraltar

In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht ended the War of the Spanish Succession by forcing France to cede both Newfoundland and Gibraltar to Britain, officially making both British colonies.  Fast-forward to the present and Gibraltar, while still considered a territory of Britain, is by-n-large a self-governing parliamentary country.  It's a tiny territory, only a mere 6.8 sq. km., but the dominate 'Rock' reaches a height of 426 metres.  Most of the Rock's upper area is covered by a nature reserve which is home to around 230 Barbary macaques, the famous "apes" of Gibraltar (which are actually monkeys), these are the only wild apes or monkeys found in Europe.

 


The moment you see the 'Rock', you realize something doesn't seem quite right - it looks totally out of place; there isn't another geological formation like it along this part of the Spanish coast.  It's only when you look the 9 kms. across the Strait of Gibraltar to Morocco do you realize that the Rock was meant to be over there in Africa.  Obviously; it didn't break off correctly when the continents split....the Rock, the English and even the monkeys all seems like they should be somewhere else but where they are.

Gibraltar has but one town, aptly called Gibraltar Town, where all of the 33,000 residents reside.....

Around Town

The international airport runway - a Gibraltar oddity: look closely and you'll see the main road into the territory.  It bisects the runway for which pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists must cross (a tunnel is used for vehicle traffic)......

....when an airplane is using the runway, the main road is closed (as is the case here) and you have to wait.....

...after the airplane has done its thing, the road reopens and everyone is allowed to cross the tarmac, similar to walking down any street.  Situation normal!

How British is this little finger of land jutting out into the Mediterranean Sea you ask?  Very British actually - Spain was neutral in both World Wars and it has no association with November 11th Remembrance Day, it's just another day for them, but here - different story.

Like most communities in this part of the world, they have a walking street.  This one keeps traffic at bay with huge barriers, tastefully reminding people of their British heritage.

All around town are signs of the historic military importance of this chunk of rock, including the historic San Pedro Battery (one of many here).

Damn, I wish these port-a-potties would have frosted windows!

We found our go-to bar called The Skull, named after the first ever discovered Neanderthal skull in a quarry just up the road from here....not this skull, it's a fake.

Joe, the Belfast bartender at The Skull.  He had Irish wit, a strong broque and a love for Canadian hockey.

Mel informed me that she met some guy named Robert.  She said he was a policeman, (an unlikely story I said), but as it turns out "Bob" was a policeman.  Mel lost interest after she found out he lived at home in his parents basement.  Some people simply never grow up and leave home.

After spending most of our first day wandering around Gibraltar town, it was time to tackle the......

Rock

We've all heard the saying "solid as the Rock of Gibraltar" which is used to describe an entity that is very safe or firm.  To get to the top of that safe, firm and solid rock, requires walking or taking an extortionate-priced cable car to the top - which we did (cause we were at The Skull, the night before)! 

First stop was to visit the Great Siege Tunnels.  Over the centuries, Gibraltar built approximately 55km. of tunnels within the Rock for defense purposes.  Apparently, this is double the length of the roads within the territory, meaning they were better at building tunnels than roads!

This set of tunnels were built in 1782 to fend off the warring Spanish and have become a major tourist attraction (something the original builders probably envision happening 240+ years later).

An elaborate series of gun galleries were strategically place within the west side of the Rock, where the British could blast the poop out of the warring Spanish.

After walking nearly all the way down off the Rock to see the Great Siege Tunnels, we turned around and huffed back up the Rock to see the other attractions it has to offer, including the Windsor Suspension Bridge.

Spanning over 70 metres across a 50 metre gorge, the bridge can only be crossed if you correctly answer all three of the bridge-keepers questions - which apparently I did.  Melanie, on the other hand,  couldn't remember her favourite colour, and was therefore tossed off.

The bridge has anti-jumping wire mesh running its full length, just in the event you wanted to commit the hairy canary or push the Instagramming Glamour Girls off.

Of course, no trip to the Gibraltar Rock would be complete without seeing the monkeys, similarly no trip is complete to the Newfoundland Rock without seeing the monkeys on George Street.  Same same only different.

"WTF George, where did you get all the fleas?"

The famous "Rock Apes", how they got here is a mystery but the most likely story is they came as pets when the Moors conquered this part of the world.

The monkeys started up quite the business - posing for the tourists and then charging 10£ for the pictures.....cheeky monkeys!

Our next stop on the Rock was to visit St. Michael's Cave, an elaborate cave system that has had a Neanderthal presence dating back over 40,000 years ago.  However, more recent history shows that the Greeks, Romans and Phoenicians all had an association with the place.    

This cave is named after these particular stalactites, which seem ordinary enough and can be found in just about any cave in the world.....

....but add a little bit of coloured lighting and, BOOM, it becomes St. Michael the Archangel, who continues to battle the three evils of society: Satan, Hitler and Donald Trump.

The ancient Romans believe this cave to be the Temple of Hercules....you may notice a resemblance between me and Hercules who was renowned for his strength and far-ranging adventures!!!  Just saying!!

Meanwhile, the ancient Greeks thought that this cave was the entrance to Hades, their mythological underworld.  Perhaps - but do they serve cold beer there?

The largest of the cave chambers (named Cathedral Cave), currently serves as an auditorium complete with seating for 100 people, colourful lighting and outstanding sound acoustics, not to mention this backdrop!!!.

Our final activity in Gibraltar involves getting down off the Rock without taking a second mortgage out to do so.  Our plan is to hike down the Mediterranean Steps, which was built by the British military to allow access to some of their more remote military defense posts.  The Steps are steep and not for people suffering from extreme vertigo!  Perfect!!

The north face of the Rock with its 390 metre near vertigo high cliffs.  The Med Steps start here!

It is down down down from here!

It's over 1,400 steps down.  Hard on the knees, but the views are an awesome reward for the pain!

There are places where the trail levels out and even a couple of places where you have to go back up, however these are few and far between!

Europa Point Lighthouse with Morocco in the distance!

If you fall here, it's straight down....now the fall won't kill you, so my advice is to enjoy the trip down.....having said that, the abrupt stop will certainly kill you, so my advice is to avoid that part.

The Steps are in the shadow of the Rock for all of the climb down, so you know you've come to the end when you walk into the sun!

And with that we conclude our trip to Gibraltar.  tomorrow we head back to Spain to continue our trip there!