Gibraltar

22 April

After sufficiently recovering from my cold, I moved on to the small city of Algeciras in anticipation of taking the ferry across the Strait of Gibraltar to Morocco. There wasn't much to do in Algeciras, but it provided a convenient day-trip to Gibraltar.

The Rock of Gibraltar must be one of the most famous geological sights in the world, and walking right past it (as you walk across the military and civilian airport runway) is rather surreal. It only gets worse once you get into the place, where everything is hyper-stereotypical British with old-fashioned street signs, telephone boxes and buildings. Despite the staunch British appearance, Gibraltarans consider themselves to be residents of, what else?, Gibraltar and in a recent referendum designed by the Spanish and British governments designed to facilitate future administrative control, residents here resoundly rejected both the Spanish and British governments and said that they were quite happy with being Gibraltarans, thank you, and they preferred things in their quiet, sunny part of the world just as they are. Common sense still rules the day in Gibraltar.

The place is very touristy, so I did the most touristy thing I could think of and ordered a big plate of fish and chips. Afterwards I walked around looking at the free things and checked out the English language book stores, primarily to buy a guide book for Morocco. Just a little walking was still rather tiring so after a few hours I walked back into Spain and got back on the bus for Algeciras.

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