Gibraltar: 25 March 2013

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.

Costa del Sol

Amy and I just returned from our Easter Break trip to the Costa del Sol in southern Spain. We arrived just in time for the first spell of less than perfect weather they had all winter. In truth, it might as well have been called Costa del Overcast with Showers for the majority of the time we were there. That didn’t bother us since we are not particularly sun worshipers and just enjoyed the opportunity to unwind and relax away from the stress of job and teenagers.

We flew into Malaga in the heart of the Costa del Sol and picked up our rental car. Costa del Sol is the Spanish equivalent of the French or Italian Riviera. It was quite the place. On a clear day you can see forever, or at least to Africa. We never had that clear a day, but the weather was clear enough at times so we had a glimpse of what it could be. The temperatures were 5-10 degrees Fahrenheit lower than normal, but also a good 5- 10 degrees higher than what we left at home in Italy.

We eventually made our way to Marbella where we stayed in a Marriott Vacation Club timeshare exchange.

It fronted on the water and we took several long walks along the beach.

Most of the time we were basically alone, but on the last day, when the sun came out, there was quite a crowd. I don’t want to think about what it is like during the high season. Then again, Amy and I avoid the beaches in Italy during that period as well.

Northern Europeans flock to the Mediterranean coast at any time of year. That was nice since it meant that the hotel staff all spoke English, in part to deal with all of the timeshare owners from the UK. They also stocked a wide variety of foods. We had cheddar! You have no idea what it is like to live for a year with only Italian cheeses. There are only so many ways you can make pecorino and Italians have discovered all of them. We recently saw a book of 100 Italian cheeses and close to ¼ of them were variations of pecorino distinguished by being from differnt places!

The timeshare was a spacious, 2-bedroom affair which slept 6. We were only 2 so we bounced around in the emptiness. We had a nice view from our balcony.

A huge sitting room with TV (which had English channels!).

A very nice, fully equipped kitchen.

And last, but not least, a large bedroom with a very comfortable bed. You can just make out Amy’s hair on the pillow if you look closely enough. She wasn’t getting up for anything including a picture.

Daylight Savings Time

Daylight Savings Time is an interesting invention. Countries near enough to the equator have no need for such an adjustment since the amount of daylight doesn’t vary much from season to season. Other places such as China don’t bother. After all, when the country is all in one inconvenient time zone anyway, what difference does it make if you shuffle the time by an hour? The heart of Europe and the US are similarly situated relative to the equator and have significant differences in daylight hours between the longest and shortest day of the year. Both have adopted daylight savings time. However, they make the jump at different times. This year, the US jumps ahead today, March 10. In Italy we won’t make the jump until March 31. Since we are normally 6 hours ahead of the US and you are jumping one hour toward us, there will only be a 5 hour time difference for the next three weeks.

In other news, we leave bright and early tomorrow morning for a ten day trip to Campania, Basilicata and Puglia. We will almost certainly have e-mail access, so don’t hesitate to contact us if you need to. However, blogging and uploading pictures will probably take a back seat to everything else which is going on. To compound the issue, we are taking off for an 8 day vacation to the Costa del Sol in southern Spain the day after we return, so it could be quite some time until I blog again. Rest assured however, I will fill you in on all the details once we get back to normal at the end of the month.

Frankenankle

It has been a busy couple of weeks. We had a quarter end, a bicycle trip in Rome with students and a visit from the President of the organization. Couple that with an impending 10 day trip to Southern Italy and there hasn’t been much time to do anything beyond work and sleep.

Well, that isn’t exactly true. We did have time for Amy to sample the Italian medical system up close and personal last Sunday morning.

In Amy’s words, “My left foot rolled off the sidewalk this morning and I sprained my ankle while walking to the car to go to the hotsprings. Luckily, a posse of polizia heard my screams and called an ambulance. Warren followed the ambulance to the ER. A bike race was going through town, so the ambulance had to race the wrong way up one way streets. Very Italian and Formula 1-ish. Got to the ER and was transferred to one of the hospital's gurneys and left in the hall. Was occasionally wheeled to different areas of the hall. After about an hour, got 2 x-rays. About 1/2 hour after that was told no break, only sprain. Ice, elevation and ibuprofen. Didn't pay a cent. No English was spoken by any of the medical staff. Ankle is "caviglia". Sprained ankle is "distorsione alla caviglia". Hurt like hell when it happened. Now, there is no pain. Due to the 4 ibuprofen tablets I took?”

In fact, she was incapacitated for two days although never in any serious pain after the initial stumble. She held her classes in our living room and greatly enjoyed the attention, coffee and goodies that the students showered her with. We got her the world’s most expensive Ace bandage (18 euros which is around $25) so that she could wander around more easily. She has now entirely abandoned the crutches we found in the apartment and has switched to a foot brace she can wear in a close-toed shoe, assuming she can get her foot into a shoe without any pain. She is good-to-go for our trip next week.