Day trip to Gibraltar

Driving up on the Rock of Gibraltar

Last weekend Jose and I had a holiday on Friday for All Saints' Day so we decided to take a short trip down to Gibraltar which is only about a 2 hour drive from here. We left on Saturday morning, parked our car in Spain and strolled across the border. For those of you who don't know, Gibraltar is located right on the tippy tip of Spain (right across the sea from Africa) but belongs to Great Britain (and has since the 18th century). Recently there has been a lot of controversy about this area, whether it should be returned to Spain or not, etc. I choose not to enter into the debate. I am sure if you ask the folks who live there they do NOT want to become a part of Spain though.

There were even Red Coats!

As soon as you cross into Gibraltar you are immediately greeted by signs in English, red telephone booths and bobby police officers. You are obviously in a different country and Jose even claimed that it smelled like the U.K. (I don't know about that) but it is an odd experience to go from Spain directly into a foreign land without really going anywhere at all. 

The Main Street was full of people, there was a cruise ship in the port.

Gibraltar itself is small (less than 3 square miles) and we walked the entire thing. First we headed down Main Street where you could buy all kinds of cigarettes and booze, jewelry and clothes at better prices than in Spain. (We picked up a few things; it was like going to a duty-free shop). Then we headed to the cable cars to take us up on the famous rock of Gibraltar.

At the top with a monkey

There is a nature park at the top of the Rock and this is where you can see the notorious monkeys (the only ones living in the wild in all of Europe curiously enough). We had previously purchased a pass which allowed us to enter all of the touristic sights on the top of the Rock so we spent a couple of hours visiting St. Michael's cave, the Great Siege Tunnels, the various look out points all the while slowly making our way back down to the city itself. By the end of this trip our feet were killing us. Unless you are really into history I am not sure if this part of the visit is necessary. I would recommend taking the cable ar to the top but not paying to enter the different sights (they were crazy expensive and in the end not that interesting). What you really get are the views and the closeness to the monkeys.

St. Michael's Cave, cool but maybe not 13 euros worth of cool

After we finally made it all the way down again we stopped for a typical British lunch, I ordered fish and chips and Jose got chicken curry. Plus we both ordered pints which were the perfect thing after walking around all day. Eventually we hiked it back across the border and drove home. I am very glad we parked outside of Gibraltar itself because the line of cars to get out was crazy! (One of the problems at the border is people who purchase cigarettes in large quantities and take them back into Spain to sell them illegally). We had it easy. It seemed like no one even looked at our national I.D. cards (which is also a bit scary).

Jose was not excited about the peas that came with my fish and chips

Gibraltar was a very interesting place. I still can't get over how odd it was to be so close to something so different. It was a really cool trip. I mean, I got to speak English to people for once! Plus we got to spend some time in a very iconic and picturesque place. 

They have their own kind of pounds as well