Gibraltar

On the day of our visit, the bus took us the short distance from Algeciras to the Gibraltar bus terminal where we transferred to the special 22 seater bus which took us on the "rock tour". These special buses were apparently built by Toyota specifically for this tour, and you soon learn why.

I don't know how many of you have been to this place, but I do know that coming here has certainly changed the way I think of Gibraltar. I thought it was just a big barren rock, but, as you will see it is neither barren nor just a rock. And the common saying, "solid as the rock of Gibraltar" does not stand up to scrutiny either. Yes, it is big and heavy and not easily moved, but it is not as solid as you might think. Also, contrary to what you might think, the rock of Gibraltar is not an island - it is connected by an isthmus to the mainland of Spain.

We were also told, however, that, though it is connected to the mainland by an isthmus, the rock is not attached to the underlying terra firma - that is, it is not the top of a mountain protruding above the water. Rather, it is a big limestone boulder resting on something below the water that IS attached to terra firma. So, perhaps not quite as solid as it might be.
This is a view, looking over a part of Gibraltar that was reclaimed from the ocean. As you can see, there is a sharp drop at the edge of this and most of the roads leading up the rock.
The view below looks across the water with Spain in the distance.

The British territory of Gibraltar has a population of about 30,000 people (plus 300 monkeys) and, though people live on the rock itself, much of the built up area including the airport runway, is situated on land reclaimed from the ocean. Where did they get the material for reclamation? Well, for strategic and simple transportation reasons, the British and Commonwealth military personnel carved out tunnels and huge spaces within the rock, apparently areas large enough to accommodate 5000 people inside during the second world war, and to consider using some of that space within the rock as a military hospital - though it seems the latter never happened. So, some of the hollowing out of the rock was done my man (see below for more about the caves created by natural forces), apparently using fairly basic methods. Some of this work, we were told, was carried out by driving large pieces of wood into crevices in the rock, then soaking the wood causing it to swell and split the rock!
The limestone removed in creating the tunnels and other spaces, was dumped into the ocean ultimately forming part of the mass which became the current "land" area around the rock.

Back to the rock tour - the drivers of these small buses have to be excellent and experienced to zip, as they do, through tunnels with barely inches to spare all round and to negotiate the narrow two way (one way by anyone else's standards) roads that lead up the sides of the rock always with a sharp drop on one side. (We went as high as about 1000 of the 1400 or so feet.) No one has ever driven off the edge, we were told.

First stop is to take photos at the place where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean - remember? - we did that on the African side. The Mosque on the left in this photo was commissioned by a someone of wealth and standing from, I think, Saudi Arabia.

Here we are looking from the south side of "Gib"; in this photo, toward the Atlantic,

and in this one toward the Mediterranean.
From here more hair raising driving to, first, the park with the Barbary Macaques (tail-less monkeys), with whom our driver claimed to have a special relationship, and so he does.

He said if you touch them they will bite - if you don't they won't. And they will not take cameras or glasses but will take women's handbags as they assume bags contain food. The monkeys are fed twice daily by park personnel, but they still like the goodies. Immediately after the bus stopped they were all over the bus and almost in the driver's lap.

The second reason for this stop and the most special treat is St. Michael's caves created, not by man, but by water dripping on this limestone rock.

Check it out in these photos. It is breathtaking - the only and most awesome "cathedral" we have visited and the best part of Gibraltar, in my view.

This is a cut section of a stalactite that fell - this cut surface is hard and polished, resembling marble.

This is an in cave auditorium where concerts and performances of all kinds are apparently held. It is said that the acoustics are excellent.

From this point, unfortunately, we have to leave this beautiful place.

From St Michael's we went to a couple more stops at overlooks then back to town and the shopping area.

How did she get here?

A view from a stop on our way down - overlooking the area and the Mediterranean.

This photo shows the road on which we came where it crosses the Gibraltar airport runway! - the only runway as far as I could tell. The car traffic is controlled by a traffic light!

Gibraltar has it's own currency, the Gibraltar £, related to the British £ but different. They also accept € (Euros). The prices are outrageously high. We had an small order of mediocre fish and chips, a coffee and hot chocolate - the price was €28.00 which is around $40 CDN! - for lunch. We bought nothing else.

Above is the gate to the Main street shopping area.

I took the adjacent photo as we were leaving. I think this is the wall that used to be the outer perimeter that kept the water at bay.

Leaving can tricky, apparently. To go through Spanish customs we had to take all of our stuff off the bus, including bags from the luggage area, and walk them through customs and immigration. We passed through easily but our guide warned that the Spanish border guards can be quite difficult. Then a tiring 5 or 6 hour bus trip home.