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Published: July 27th 2016
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A day trip to Gibraltar, this is another experience I had once when I was just around 12 years old. It was in February, and with those monkeys, it was as if it was yesterday.
We spent the night in Algeciras, just on the other side of the "Rock", where 50 euros give you a huge room in a Mercure. Gibraltar, and land mass is pretty small on Gibraltar, so accommodation comes at a premium. It's actually like three times the price you will find in Algeciras. They have even brought in a cruiseship and are using it as a permanent hotel...for more than 200 euros a night!
/we had a short 20 minutes queues in the morning to get the car into Gibraltar, truly easy process. I was expecting huge queues to get back to Spain, but we had neither of those. It's actually pretty funny to see all this people on bicycles and motorbikes waving open their passports....and the immigration officer waving them away. I guess you are already properly controlled on the way in if you come by road or plane....so the way out is even easier. After all, this is The
Rock!
In February you can drive all the way to the top with your own car, but they limit seriously the traffic during the summer. Land is at a price here...finding a place to park your car is another challenge. We started by driving around the rock. Views are impressive and they even have few beaches. I have to admit, knowing how cold is the water, it may not be the place where I want to spend a week on vacation on a beach! But it was for sure one of the warmer beaches in the UK today!
I don't specially remember a stop at Europa Point, but that was another great spot. I don't know if you can see often Morocco from Spain, but today from Gibraltar, I can tell you that beside seeing boats crossing the Channel, we did not see Africa!
Later that morning we parked the car by the cable car. Told you, finding a space is challenging...and we were happy to find one in less than 20 minutes! These are not tourists in cars, but mainly local people. You can obviously see more apartments around here
than houses around here....the little Hong Kong of Europe.
Little note on the fact that few days ago came the vote for the Brexit....and here, it does bring huge amounts of questions. Locals do not want to leave the EU...but they do not want to become Spanish too! You top this up with 8000 Spaniards crossing the border every day to go to work...and you find yourself, and the local media with a lot of questions, but no answers! I'm not sure Gibraltar will become country 194 on UN members list!
Another small queue for the cable car. But what a ride! The view on top is impressive...and the monkeys were indeed waiting for us. These are the only wild monkeys you will find in Europe, and they have a lot of them. The monkeys are really accustomed to see the tourists...but it doesn't stop them to be wild animals...and serious thieves! Do not leave anything that they can grab, as they will do it! One was waiting next to me next to the cable car. They actually wait for tourists at the exit of the cable car. He jumped on the back of
the tourist...yes...and unzipped his backpack to steal packs of snacks and threw them on the floor while his friends were helping themselves. Imagine, he went into the backpack! That was an experience, sadly, I was on the wrong side of the rail to take a proper pic of the action...and it went so fast!
The view from the top of the rock is simply amazing....but there is a lot more to see in Gibraltar. Sadly, as often, we are a little on the run, so we will give a pass to the exploration of all the War tunnels and barracks that Gibraltar has to offer. We did drive a pretty impressive tunnel inside the Rock itself, impressive experience!
Downtown has a long walking street. This place is duty free.....therefore, shopping resolved around cosmetics and alcohol...and I must admit, it's a crowded place. I didn't want to settle for a lunch of fish and chips, as they seem to serve only this to the tourists around. Paella any day....not the same for greasy fish on my side...sorry to admit!
so yes, for us, it was some make-up.....do smile....not for me....double smile....plus a
very nice bottle! Prices are half price from most airport duty free I know in the world....so the nicer is the bottle, the bigger the saving....and obviously, a better experience on the terrace later on!
We could have spend way more time in Gibraltar, hopefully it will not be another 30 years till we come back! I must admit, for me, in 30 years, it didn't change much. Ready to smile, I did not remember all those shops!
Time for us to head north again....and for me, to finally hit the small white ball!
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