Gibraltar

We arrived in Algeciras, a city on the Atlantic/Mediterranean coast of Spain, after another five hour train ride from Madrid. The journey over the southern portion of Spain exposed us to a very dry, rocky and hilly landscape – a landscape that was covered in olive trees, sunflower fields and sparsely scattered signs of human settlement over the years. As we got further south, the towns took on a typical Mediterranean feel with their whitewash walls and box like appearance.

As it was Sunday evening when we arrived in Algeciras, pretty much everything was closed. Adam had been in charge of booking our hotel for the evening, but we struggled to find its location in the web of the city. Once we did arrive, our hostel (Lisboa Hostel) was deemed a ‘fail’ by my travel companion because of its squeaky bed, poor facilities and unusable internet connection, for which we were paying almost as much as in Madrid. It goes to show that taking the time to read the reviews from multiple sites about your prospective accommodation often allows you to get better value for your dollar. (I recommend using a travel guide, hostelbookers.com and tripadvisor.com together to make your decision.)

Monday we were going to Morocco, however we did not yet have a plan as to when we would depart, where we were going to go and how we were going to get there. Our three options included 1) taking a ferry to Ceuta, which is one of a handful of Spanish possessions on the coast of Morocco, then crossing into Morocco and taking a bus to Chefchaouen, 2) taking a ferry to Tangier and then taking a bus to Chefchaouen, or 3) visiting Gibraltar, which is a British possession on the coast of Spain, then going to Tangier and skipping Chefchaouen. At times, when there are so many options of interesting places to visit and famous sights to be seen, it is discouraging that there is not more time in the day or days in the week to visit them all. We decided to go to Gibraltar because of its historical importance, its unique political and cultural reality, and the beautiful vistas we could see from the rock.

Arriving in Gibraltar, I hadn’t known that the city was in fact a British possession and that we would need to cross the border to enter. Once we got in, it was eerie how the language immediately changed from Spanish to English, that the Euro was replaced by the Pound, and that signs of Britain’s imperialism became so forthright.

Immediately guided taxi tours were on our case to sell us their sightseeing packages. However, Adam and I chose to take the gondola to the top of the rock and then walk through the nature reserve, the area where the historical buildings, can be visited. We were surprised how few people were visiting the rock when we arrived, until we realized that most tourists were coming later in the day and that most did indeed take the taxi tours. Since Adam and I both like to walk and adventure ‘off the beaten path’, for others who also prefer being more active in their touring, I would strongly encourage you to walk the Gibraltar rock. There are many staircases and paths that are only available on foot which the taxi tours will not access, there are so many taxis that there are often traffic jams on the single lane road, and you are able to spend more or less time in the places you enjoy when you are on your own schedule.

One of the main attractions in Gibraltar, especially on the rock, are the monkeys. Apparently they are part of a relatively rare breed and have a significant part in the history of Gibraltar. Part of their allure is that it is unknown how the monkeys arrived in Gibraltar. The rest of the allure is that monkeys are very entertaining creatures. The ones in the nature reserve are fed and vaccinated. There are warning everywhere though that the monkeys will grab and bite you. In real life, they are in fact quite frightening. The monkeys were Adam’s favourite part of our visit – that is until one tried to grab his camera from his pocket and when he grabbed it back the money jumped at his face. The monkey’s aggression was enough to scare Adam forcing him fall down and get a headache from the whole experience. Unfortunately I was not there to witness the events, but Adam was definitely shaken from the whole experience.

We covered a significant distance walking back and forth down the rock. On the route we visited the old Moorish castle, caves, the monkey den, the siege tunnels and even climbed an old path up to the World War II bunker near the top of the rock. The bunker hike was my favourite part because it was a less travelled path, the history was much more modern, and the location of the bunker allowed for amazing vistas of all sides of the peninsula. Either way, it was very apparent that Gibraltar, from top to bottom, consists of layer upon layer of history, primarily military based. The Spaniards, the African Moors, the British and even the Dutch have had significant stake in this piece of land that acts as the gate to the Mediterranean.