Spanglish Rock

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Well, as always, a bit behind the ball with this one...but I spent two days enjoying Gibraltar (aka Spanglish Rock for it´s strange mixture of culture.) I of course took the requesite trip to the top to see the tail-less monkeys and the view. I saw what must have originally been a beautiful cave but has since been turned into a performance space complete with stadium seating. The cave sees tens of thousands of tourists each year. The cavern was beautiful and was formed over thousands if not millions of years. Yet currently the stalagtites and stalagmites are lit up with red and green flood lights and other tasteless theatrics. During the days of war when the Brits were helping the Spanish push the French out, visiting generals would be entertained in this large cavern. As they didn´t have red and green floodlights at the time, soldiers would be stationed on the rock pillars at varying heights throughout this massive cave (perhaps up to 30 feet above ones head), holding torches to add the necessary light for a dinner or show. With deep pits and massive ceilings this cave must have been a true wonder before electricity. Currently it is billed as St. Michael´s cave. (5 euro please.)

But the truth is I wasn´t really there to explore Prudential´s corporate logo, ¨The Rock¨so much as I was there to catch a match between England & Portugal. Of course by now we know that Portugal took the match in a shoot out (reminiscent of the world cup in 2002 for the English). Portugal since lost it´s bid against France but will play for 3rd place against Germany tonight. We sat at Casteman´s square watching the game on a big screen with a huge turnout for the English (obviously) and about 10 or so portugese (much less than I thought.) It was great to relax and enjoy some beers in the square and not hang on every pass, place kick and header. Those poor Brits were sent home crying, again.

Gibraltar, while modernizing with updated ports and luxury condos is still quite antiquated compared to my expecatations. Considered ´off shore´for banking, quite a bit of money flows through the rock every year. Booze, cigarettes, and even gas are cheaper here than in neighboring La Linea, Spain. So quite reasonably, I expected a there would be a high end casino and hotel industry. The Casino was pathetic in fact, a huge BINGO room was 3 times as big as the gaming floor (which only consisted of slot machines.) The rest of the casino was used as event space as it did have a nice view towards Algeciras. Connected (virtually) was The Rock hotel, a deco style hotel that seemed to still retain a bit of it´s past elegance but certainly wasn´t pulling in the high rollers of a bygone era. The casino appears to have gone into contract for some new space on the marina in a new lusury development, but methinks if I were in the business I would buy the owner out as there seems to be a lot of potential there. So if any of you are reading this and know anyone interested with millions upon millions, let me know, perhaps that can be next venture😊

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Photos

From the rock
looking at Algeciras

Casteman Sq.
The scene in Casteman Square BEFORE the English lost to Portugal in the shoot out. The rock of Gibraltar is looming above.