The Rock

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We spent today at Gibraltar looking and acting like a tourist. We were blessed with another beautiful day, 75F with a slight breeze. From the ship we can look north into Spain, look right to Gibraltar and south to Africa. I never realized how narrow the straights really were, about 9 miles. There was a slight haze so all we could see of Africa was the top of a mountain. First a tour of the museum covering the history of the rock. Unfortunately pictures were not allowed to be taken. Next, we were taken up to the top by tram and got a chance to see the famous Gibraltar Apes. The so called apes really are not apes but tailless monkeys. There are signs posted, and they warn people when you get on the tram not to carry plastic bags visible because the apes associate plastic bags with food. . The apes sneak up behind you, grab the bag out of your hand and run away. There are always some people that don't listen but they find out fast. We watched a group from Germany that brought a plastic bag full of fruit from the ship. As soon as the group stepped into the open, the apes started to sneak up behind them. Two of the larger apes jumped up and grabbed the bag almost knocking the lady that was carrying it over. She received a scratch on the arm but was OK otherwise. Saw one (not too smart) lady put down her shoulder bag to look around and almost lost her camera and other things in the bag. Fortunately for her, someone close got to her bag just as the ape started to take it and frightened the ape away. Back down to the bus for a tour of the caves in the rock. We started to walk from the parking area to the caves but the path was very steep. I managed to get a quarter of the way up and decided there was no way I was going to make it and still be able to breathe so we turned around and returned to the bus. After talking with some of the people that made the full climb I was glad we did not push our luck. On the way back to town a quick stop at an old outpost fort. Soldiers posted on lookout duty were severely dealt with if they were caught sleeping. As a means of staying awake, the started to scratch their names on the exposed rocks and ultimately the side of the fort. I guess graffiti did not start with today’s youth. After our trip up the mountain, we ask to be dropped of in the center of town and had lunch in the town square. We did a little shopping before walking back to the ship, about a mile or so from down town. An interesting sidelight on Gibraltar is the airport. The runway starts at the edge of the bay and runs east to the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. The main highway from Gibraltar to Spain crosses the middle of the runway. I think this is probable the only place in the world that has traffic signals controlling both airplanes and road vehicles.

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Photos

Graffiti at an old fort.
When the fort was active, if a soldier was caught napping, they were subject to being shop. To keep alert, they practiced Graffiti on the rocks. The date for this soldier is 1732

A statue dedicated to the displaced
During World War II, Most of the children on Gibraltar were removed for their safety and sent to other countries for the duration. Our tour guide was sent as a little girl and grew up in Brazil.