Part 3: Gibraltar

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The Trip

From Grenada we took the train to Cordoba and then south to Algeciras.  To get to Gibraltar, we had to taxi from the Algeciras train station to the border, cross the border on foot, then get another taxi to take us to the hotel.  The train ride took hours and we arrived at the border around 2300.  We ended up being without a taxi (they were not just sitting around as they had been elsewhere) and survived by the kindness of strangers that showed us both the taxi number and how to dial our phone in Gibraltar.  Sounds odd, but we could not get the blasted phone to work.  But we prevailed and showed up at our hotel very late.  So late in fact that the kitchen was closed and dinner for us consisted of multiple cocktails in the hotel bar.  The bar closed at 0100 and we closed the place.  Thank goodness that Kathleen packed some Power Bars in her bag or we would have gone to bed both hungry and drunk as opposed to just drunk.

The Photos

The photos below are what we saw.

From our room on the 5th floor we could see the Moorish Castle on the north end of the Rock of Gibraltar.  We did not visit the castle for a variety of reason (mostly logistics) justifying our decision as "seen one medieval castle, seen them all".  And, we ran out of motivation.

Did I say that the streets were narrow?  My 5-series BMW would not fit on this street.

We headed south toward the quay and the gondola station and we passed this sign.

A bit further south we came upon the gondola to the top of the rock of Gibraltar.  Once we saw the size of the rock, we immediately decided that we would ride the gondola rather than attempting to walk it on foot.

Close to the gondola station there were a number of old cannons that had seen service in the defense of Gibraltar.  This is a big one, very heavy and hard to move onto the mountain.

This cannon is a bit smaller and the wheels would lead you to think it is "portable" but it is very heavy.

An older mortar.  I doubt that these were very accurate, but they made a tremendous amount of noise and smoke.

Just south of the gondola station was the Gibraltar Botanical Garden.  We stopped in for a visit and check out the plants.  Most of the plants were from Africa, many of which can be seen in the San Diego area.

This huge bee was working hard on the blooms.

Steve was having fun, although later in the day we were getting spent due to the sun and heat.

The next day we decided to take the gondola to the top.  The winds were pretty strong and it was much colder at the top than in town.  The top provided a great view of the ships in Gibraltar/Algeciras harbor.  Visible in the distance in the photo above is the continent of Africa.

From the top, looking over the east rampart down to the beach.  Man-made breakwaters constrain the movement of sand which would otherwise be swept out to sea by the wave action.  That beach is a long, long way down.

From the crest, looking south toward Africa, you can get a sense of the size and steepness of the cliffs.

We decided to walk down from the peak.  Basically, than decision was made as a consequence of viewing some of the interesting items and then discovering that for us to return via the gondola we had a beefy uphill hike to get there.  Sometimes, the path of least resistance is a good thing.  Above is a hitch point that was used by the soldiers to tug cannons and equipment up the hill.  Huge eye bolts, rings and chains were placed at regular intervals along the steep roads.  Blocks and tackle were hooked to the hard points and the men tugged until the job was done.  I am sure that they hated the really big hardware.

From the top of the gondola station looking north toward Spain.  The top of the most northern point now held an air traffic control radar.  Note the huge new apartments on the eastern shore.  Also note that they are built on fill.

To the north we could see the Gibraltar airport - also built on fill or spoil from all the tunnel that were constructed as part of the fortifications.  The Spanish border begins where the buildings begin to thin-out.

From one of the overlooks we could clearly see the dry docks that support the shipping industry.  This one has 3 bays.  Note that the ships that are anchored in the harbor are being attended by fueling ships.  For large ships, the fuel station comes to you while you are at anchor.  We counted about a dozen tenders in action in the harbor.

Looking north toward the gondola station (hidden behind the peak) you get a sense of the steepness of the uplifted limestone that comprises this formation.  The dip angle on these beds is greater than 45 degrees.

Looking to the south toward Africa we could see the ring road that goes around the edge of the peninsula.

Tenders and other service boats hard at work ferrying fuel and supplies to the ships in the harbor.

Gibraltar is famous for the macaques that have taken up residence on the rock.  Nobody is certain how they got there, but they have adapted to dealing with humans.  You are not supposed to feed or touch the monkeys but that did not prevent many folks from attempting to pet them.  None got bit, that I saw, but they have huge canine teeth.

Prior to taking the photo above, I watched a young girl actually pet one of the monkeys.  I was wincing but the animal tolerated it pretty well.  This gal seems amused.

While we were on the hill, the cargo ship in the center of the photo above completed resupply and motored out to the straits of Gibraltar.  The ship's wake is visible.  Note the fuel tenders servicing the two ships in the foreground.

One of "the sights to see" is St. Michael's Cavern.  Kathleen, being a cave buff, insisted that we go and I was not disappointed.  The rock is limestone and all limestone is prone to forming caverns.  These caverns were huge and the claim is that the limits of the cave are not known.  The rooms were very large with huge formations.  During "the war", there were plans to use the rooms of the cavern as a battlefield hospital.  The logistics, however, were formidable since the entrance is about 3/4 of the way up to the top.

There were some really nice decorations in the cave.

St. Michael's is a live cave, and therefore things were wet.

A huge column; the size can be judged by the folks at the bottom of the photo.

The largest room in the cave, and presumably the one that would have been used as the hospital, had a theater, complete with seating.  They ran a light show every 5 minutes and it was very cool.  Part of the A/V support equipment is visible at the lower right in the photo above.  This specific column was quite spectacular: very tall and thin.

Some of the haze started to clear and North Africa became easily visible across the Straights of Gibraltar.

Further down the harbor-side slope we came to a new suspension bridge.  This is a tourist-only bridge and did not support the military garrison at the Rock.

We got on the bridge and were confronted by this pair.  Neither mom nor her baby appeared scared.

A bit further down we passed this mom taking care of some grooming of junior.

Gibraltar has always been a military asset.  The Romans were here, the Moors, the Spanish, and the English.  Gibraltar is English territory and has been since the 1700's.  The mountain is riddled with gun emplacements and tunnels.  This is one of the older emplacements, no longer in use.

We continued walking down the mountain.  The trail was steep and the foot path into town dumped us onto long, steep set of stairs that finally terminated at our hotel.  That was good because all of us were tired from the sun and the walk.

Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2024, all rights reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.