Gibraltar, Great Britain
We docked in Gibraltar earlier than we thought we were supposed to today, but we didn’t leave the ship until around 11, so we sort of got to sleep in! It makes me happy to be able to do that! Anyways, we got off the ship and walked down the one street towards the cable cars that would take us to the top of The Rock. I guess here is where I should talk a little bit about Gibraltar. It is a dependent of Great Britain, and is located on a small tip of the southernmost tip of Spain. Gibraltar is 2.75 miles long, three-quarters of a mile wide and 1,396 feet in height. There is quite a lot of history to the area, like wars over control of the land and whatnot, but what is most important is that there are wild monkeys all over The Rock. Now, most of you may know that I am anti-monkeys-for-pets, but I could hardly resist the native Barbary Apes and I wanted to take them home with me. But, I’ll get to that later. Back to some historical significance. There were some extensive tunnels (about 30 miles worth) built at the north end of The Rock during World War II, but they were not really needed so they are just there to look at now.
We got to the queue for the cable cars, but we a taxi driver came up offer us a lot more for our money, so we loaded up with two other families and made our way to the top of The Rock. We started off the tour at the Pillars of Hercules, just below the highest point. We could see Africa, or more specifically Morocco, from this point since it is only 8 miles away. We climbed back into the van and made our way to St. Michael’s Cave. I was super excited for the caves because I like caves, but Brooke and Jessica seemed a little less enthused by them. However, they quickly changed their minds when we entered. The cave is large and filled with beautiful stalactites, illuminated with all colors. The Romans named the cave after St. Michael when they had control of the land because he was the patron saint of the area, or something like that, but it was also said that the ancient Greeks believed this cave to be one of two entrances to the underworld and Hades. There is an amphitheatre that hosts all sorts of things from concerts to weddings in the cave, and that was also amazing to see. Almost makes me want to get married there… but it’s too wet, so scratch that. We piled back into the van to go to the highest point on the Upper Rock and to visit the apes!
The view was phenomenal from a spot at the top of a staircase that seemingly went nowhere. The highest peak can easily be viewed from there, as well as Africa again. The Rock itself was almost white-washed and covered in green. Add in all of different shades of blue for as far as you can see, and you have one breathe taking scene. After I took about a thousand pictures worthy of the cover of National Geographic, I rejoined Brooke and Jessica at the bottom of the staircase, where they had been distracted with the apes. There was a momma ape with a baby, which our cab driver called an apelette, several small teenaged apes, and then giant, mean daddy apes. They didn’t like that all of the small ones got attention, so just as the teens almost jumped on you, the huge ones would come and try to take over. We avoided the big ones at all costs. After about 15 minutes of this, we headed towards the WWII tunnels at the north end. Out in front of the tunnels, a ledge offers views of Spain and the Gibraltar airport, which consists of one landing strip that separates the two countries. We watched a plane take off down below us, and then noticed something curious. As soon as the plane was safely on its way to some far off destination, cars and pedestrians started crossing over the airstrip. One of the craziest things I’ve ever seen. We then wandered into the tunnels, but there wasn’t much to see, so we waited for the other families to finish up and loaded into the van one last time. Oh, I forgot to mention how scary the roads were. They were the narrowest things I’ve ever seen and there was hardly a guardrail to protect us from plummeting to untimely deaths. The roads were also very steep, so sometimes it felt like we were in a plane that was taking off. I tried not to look out the windows, but it was sort of hard because it was just beautiful.
We got back down to earth, and wandered a little more, in search of more monkeys, but it didn’t happen and we were running late, as usual, so we ran back to the ship. And nothing more has happened tonight. Oh, except that we had the worst dinner company yet. Usually, one of us isn’t amused with our dinner companions, but tonight all three of us strongly disliked the guests, so we are going to boycott the Michelangelo dining room for a bit. The only thing I can really think of that they did was yell at our friend Paul for a wine mix up that was completely their fault. We tried to defend his honor, but the woman would not have it. Anyways, we took it easy tonight because the water has gotten significantly rougher and we all know how that goes for me. Yup, I’ve taken Dramamine and I am now waiting for it to kick in. We get an extra hour of sleep because of a time zone change AND we don’t get into Lisbon until noon tomorrow. Great night of sleep for me…
We got to the queue for the cable cars, but we a taxi driver came up offer us a lot more for our money, so we loaded up with two other families and made our way to the top of The Rock. We started off the tour at the Pillars of Hercules, just below the highest point. We could see Africa, or more specifically Morocco, from this point since it is only 8 miles away. We climbed back into the van and made our way to St. Michael’s Cave. I was super excited for the caves because I like caves, but Brooke and Jessica seemed a little less enthused by them. However, they quickly changed their minds when we entered. The cave is large and filled with beautiful stalactites, illuminated with all colors. The Romans named the cave after St. Michael when they had control of the land because he was the patron saint of the area, or something like that, but it was also said that the ancient Greeks believed this cave to be one of two entrances to the underworld and Hades. There is an amphitheatre that hosts all sorts of things from concerts to weddings in the cave, and that was also amazing to see. Almost makes me want to get married there… but it’s too wet, so scratch that. We piled back into the van to go to the highest point on the Upper Rock and to visit the apes!
The view was phenomenal from a spot at the top of a staircase that seemingly went nowhere. The highest peak can easily be viewed from there, as well as Africa again. The Rock itself was almost white-washed and covered in green. Add in all of different shades of blue for as far as you can see, and you have one breathe taking scene. After I took about a thousand pictures worthy of the cover of National Geographic, I rejoined Brooke and Jessica at the bottom of the staircase, where they had been distracted with the apes. There was a momma ape with a baby, which our cab driver called an apelette, several small teenaged apes, and then giant, mean daddy apes. They didn’t like that all of the small ones got attention, so just as the teens almost jumped on you, the huge ones would come and try to take over. We avoided the big ones at all costs. After about 15 minutes of this, we headed towards the WWII tunnels at the north end. Out in front of the tunnels, a ledge offers views of Spain and the Gibraltar airport, which consists of one landing strip that separates the two countries. We watched a plane take off down below us, and then noticed something curious. As soon as the plane was safely on its way to some far off destination, cars and pedestrians started crossing over the airstrip. One of the craziest things I’ve ever seen. We then wandered into the tunnels, but there wasn’t much to see, so we waited for the other families to finish up and loaded into the van one last time. Oh, I forgot to mention how scary the roads were. They were the narrowest things I’ve ever seen and there was hardly a guardrail to protect us from plummeting to untimely deaths. The roads were also very steep, so sometimes it felt like we were in a plane that was taking off. I tried not to look out the windows, but it was sort of hard because it was just beautiful.
We got back down to earth, and wandered a little more, in search of more monkeys, but it didn’t happen and we were running late, as usual, so we ran back to the ship. And nothing more has happened tonight. Oh, except that we had the worst dinner company yet. Usually, one of us isn’t amused with our dinner companions, but tonight all three of us strongly disliked the guests, so we are going to boycott the Michelangelo dining room for a bit. The only thing I can really think of that they did was yell at our friend Paul for a wine mix up that was completely their fault. We tried to defend his honor, but the woman would not have it. Anyways, we took it easy tonight because the water has gotten significantly rougher and we all know how that goes for me. Yup, I’ve taken Dramamine and I am now waiting for it to kick in. We get an extra hour of sleep because of a time zone change AND we don’t get into Lisbon until noon tomorrow. Great night of sleep for me…
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