Marbella is approximately 70 km and a cultural world apart from the tiny British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. Though its population of 30,000 makes it about half the size of Viterbo, it is positively bustling in comparison. Its ownership by Britain is a cause of some annoyance to Spain and is the result of centuries of power balancing between Spain, France and Britain. It has been part of Britain since 1713 and the Treaty of Utrecht.
Amy and I drove down for a visit, choosing to park on the Spanish side of the border and walk across rather than brave the lines of cars at the border just for the privilege of driving across. A passport and border check is required as the UK, and hence Gibraltar, is not part of the Schengen free movement region.
The most obvious feature, visible for miles around, is the rock of Gibraltar, a 426 meter tall mountain which juts from the tiny peninsula.
In truth, there isn’t much more to the place than that. The mountain was originally connected to the mainland by a sandy isthmus which has been considerably expanded over the past half a century to accommodate an airport and runway, seen here from above on the Gibraltar side with Spain in the background.
It is surely unique in that the main runway crosses the main road into the city! At this time of year there are only a handful of flights a day, making it interesting that we had to stop in both directions, on the way in for a flight to take off and on the way back for a flight to land.
Tourism is one of the main industries of Gibraltar. They have created a nature reserve out of a huge chunk of the area including all of the “rock” and charge to enter it. Under other circumstances, had we more time and were we not concerned about the ability of Amy’s ankle to take the stress so recently after her injury, we would have set out to explore the top by cable car and foot. We opted instead for a semi-private tour by minivan/taxi of all of the major sites. First up was a stop at the monument to the Pillars of Hercules.
The pillars themselves are actually the mountains on either side of the Straits of Gibraltar. The stop provided what would have been a spectacular view of Africa had it not been so hazy. We could just make out the other side, but none of the pictures I took are clear enough to see it. Our next stop was St. Michael’s Cave. Gibraltar is riddled with natural caves due to its limestone composition. We visited the Cathedral Cave, a ballroom sized cave which was fitted out as a hospital during WWII and which now serves as a concert hall.
Some of the rock formations were quite spectacular such as this sheet of stalactites.
Outside the cave lives one of Gibraltar’s 5 ape colonies. There we were greeted by one little fellow who was friendly enough and tame enough due to repeated interactions with visitors to pose for pictures.
Our third stop of the day was at the Apes Den where we interacted with another of the colonies of apes. Here a couple posed with us with the highest peak in the background.
The young ride around on their mother until they are old enough to fend for themselves. You don’t want to get too close to them at this stage since the mother can be quite protective. Babies are lighter colored than adults making a nice contrast for the picture.
Our final stop of the tour was at the Great Siege Tunnels. Gibraltar has been under siege some 14 times in its history. During the time of the American Revolutionary War, the French and Spanish took advantage of what they hoped would be a significant distraction, to lay siege to the British in Gibraltar in the longest of these which came to be known as the Great Siege. The British determined that they needed to get guns up to a shelf-like ledge to provide protection and break the siege. Unable to go up the nearly vertical sides of the cliff, they instead began to tunnel through in the first of what would become over the centuries 33 miles of tunnels. A small part of those original tunnels are now accessible to visitors. Some of the original cannon are still present
and you get wonderful views of the Spanish border through the ventilation holes created for the primitive excavation techniques originally used.
The tunnels were significantly expanded during WWII when the British decided they wanted enough room to house an entire garrison, with provisions for a year, should the territory be placed under siege again by the Germans and their allies as part of a program to control the vital entrance to the Mediterranean.
Following the conclusion of our tour we strolled through the old city, stopping for Amy to have a traditional British lunch of fish and chips in Casemates Square.
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