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SpainGibraltar |
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Gibraltar is a tiny British colony, the only one on Europe's mainland. It is really just a town and a big rock with a lot of history. On clear days you can see Africa, not today. The Spanish are not real happy about sharing such a small piece of prime real estate with the British which makes for long and tedious border crossings. In fact the line was a couple miles long when we arrived around noon on Sunday. The guidebooks recommended parking your car and walking in but the Spanish neighborhood didn't seem like a safe place to leave a car full of luggage. The long lines have created some interesting scams to separate money from tourists. Some enterprising individuals took to wearing official looking uniforms selling tickets to enter Gibraltar while the cars waited in long lines. They explained that you could walk in free of charge but if you planned on driving your car you had to buy a ticket. I guess a lot of people fell for it because tourism officials were handing out flyers warning people of the scam. We drove through customs which was uneventful and headed straight for the port to find out about boats for tomorrow to Morocco. They have a boat that leaves every Monday but nobody knew what time. A local policemen told us we should go to Algeciras, Spain it was much cheaper and faster. This left us with the rest of the afternoon to explore the rock and the city of Gibraltar. We found lots of shopping, English pubs and restaurants. Gibraltar is a duty free zone so lots of shoppers come in for the day in search of discounted cameras, electronics and cigarettes.
Our goal was to do The Rock, the upper rock nature reserve. It's pricey to get into the park but that includes entrance to St. Michael's Cave, Monkey's Den, Great Siege Tunnels, Military Heritage Center, and a Moorish Castle. The route starts at the top of the rock with St. Michael's Cave, during WWII it was prepared as a hospital but never used, now it is used for a concert hall.
The Monkey's Den, home to 30 out of the 160 Barbary Macaques roaming wild at the reserve. These are the only free monkey's in Europe. It was fun watching them but they looked like they could cause a lot of trouble given half a chance. The Great Siege Tunnels began in 1779 when France and Spain made an all out attempt to recapture the rock while Britain was busy with the American Revolution. Governor General Elliot offered a reward to any man who could tell him how to mount a gun on the north face of the rock which faced Spain. The rock served as a great natural fort and would be perfect if the British could fire a canon or to at the approaching Spanish. The solution was to dig tunnels through the rock and mount canons on the inside. The tunnel is now crisscrossed with over 30 miles of tunnels. The natural cave formations discovered during the tunneling have allowed the British to store massive amount of explosives in a safe and secure area.
Gibraltar at the time was a strategic military location both as a harbor and a huge natural fort in the natural cave formations in the rock. The Spaniards were not very happy about the British having such a prized possession on what amounts to Spanish land. They tried to evict the British on numerous occasions and fought a long battle for seven years during the early 1800's called the Great Siege. The British troops held their ground and under horrible conditions of starvation managed to keep Gibraltar as a British Colony. Spain tried again in the late 1900's by cutting off all access to Gibraltar from the Spanish mainland and cutting the phone lines, water and power. It didn't work and you will find the border crossing is a little tense and very long lines.
Gibraltar is a tax and duty free shopping area so many Spaniards cross over to buy the maximum cheap cigarettes and alcohol that Spanish customs will let you bring back through. Every car and bus is thoroughly inspected before reentering Spain. It is also a cheap place to buy video cameras with prices that are 30 percent lower than in England. The savings stop at the duty free zone and a average night stay in a local hotel will cost you over $100. Gibraltar has their own currency which resembles in name and value the British currency. Gibraltar currency is only good in Gibraltar and trying to pay in US dollars will find a hefty premium applied to quoted prices. We asked around a couple of hotels and decided it wasn't worth it and would be heading back to Spain. Gibraltar is not a cheap place to stay and most people opt for a day trip and then move on.
The day trip to Gibraltar is worth the effort and you will not be disappointed with the history and splendor of the rock.
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| This page last changed on 19-Apr-2006 22:15:55 EDT by 70.171.24.221. |
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