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Published: January 3rd 2008
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Our last day in Spain was a trip to Gibraltar. The day started out with a very hard rainstorm and we were a bit concerned what our day would be like. We had a leisurely morning and the weather seemed to be improving so we hit the road to Gibraltar.
Since we were unsure what the weather would bring, the fact the cable car wasn't working, and the prospect of the bus on some tight roads, we decided we would do the taxi tour of Gibraltar. We started off by having the taxi drop us in the main square so we could get some lunch. The kids went to Pizza Hut while Mark and Deb went to a nice pub in Irish Town called the Clipper. After a brief delay in rendezvousing with our taxi driver (he got into an accident), we were headed up the Rock. The first stop was the Pillars of Hercules but the weather didn't allow much of a view.
Our next stop was St Michael's cave. There, we first met the monkeys. We had expected to see them during the day, but we were surprised how interactive the monkeys were. Of course years of
humans feeding the monkeys have made an impact. After 10 minutes we had to pull the kids to enter the cave and leave the monkeys (only after the taxi driver promised more monkeys after the cave). We were all impressed with St Michael's cave. Its Cathedral Cave was long thought to be bottomless which lead to the story that it connected to Africa under the Strait of Gibraltar.
Upon exiting the cave, our driver took us a little higher to the Monkey's Den. He was certainly right as there were lots of monkeys there. There were plenty of highlights during this visit: Will having a monkey sit on his head (he says they are heavier than they look - see photo), Deb and Diana having monkeys jump on their heads (too fast to photographed, rats), and an extended wrestling match between two monkeys on the top of our taxi. I think the kids could have spent a week playing with the monkeys. After having one jump on her head, Deb was meanwhile ready to move on. 😊
It was on to the Siege Tunnel next. We enjoyed visiting the tunnel and wondered how the soldiers survived on the
display of limited rations provided during the Great Siege. After the taxi drove us back down to the border we walked back to the bus and started for home. We had been pleased that the weather improved alot while we at Gibraltar and by the time we left we actually had a little sun!
We took a short detour to Sotogrande in hopes of sitting down for drinks and tapas perhaps. Unfortunately, it was pretty quiet and the only bar open was rather smoky so we decided to head back to the Marriott. Mark and Deb had some wine with a tortilla espinola we bought from the store while the kids finished off the remnants of the food we had brought. Deb began the packing process and we all agree that we've had a great trip but are ready to come home. Tomorrow, it's back to London and then home on Saturday!
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