Day 9 - It's Gibraltar, Monkeys and the Beach!

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After last night’s Flamenco exhibition, it would be difficult to find anything more fun in Sevilla, so it’s time to move on again. This time we’re leaving Spain again, even if it’s just for a few hours, to visit Gibraltar, which is actually part of Britain. We can't actually bring the bus into Gibraltar, both because it’s too big to get very far, but more because the bus and our luggage inside are subject to search by British Customs and this could cause a long delay. There has always been animosity between the Spanish and British Governments, but it has really been flaring up lately due to Brexit, and this has been causing customs delays.

The story goes that back in the 18^th century, when Spanish king didn’t have any children, the children or grandchildren, of the Austrian king and the French king were trying to claim the throne. The Spanish did not want Austria to win, and so they supported France. The French enlisted the help of the British, and ultimately the French won it wa=hat was called the War of Spanish Succession. France had to reward Britain for their help in defeating the Austrians, and Britain wanted control of Gibraltar in perpetuity. Not realizing the strategic importance of Gibraltar, France gave it to Britain. Over the years, Spain has tried to reclaim Gibraltar, but the Brits have never been so inclined. But now things are different.

Back in 1967, Gibraltar had a referendum where voters were asked whether they preferred to remain part of Britain or become part of Spain. The Gibraltar voters overwhelmingly chose to remain with Britain. But when Brexit came, Gibraltar voters overwhelming voted to remain in the EU, but Britain decided to leave. Up until now, Gibraltar being a member of the EU was protected from Spain doing anything untoward by the rules of the EU. But now that Brexit has occurred, and Britain and Gibraltar are no longer in the EU, Gibraltar has no one to complain to is Spain is mistreating them as they have lost the EU as their protector. Harassment by British Customs is only the beginning, who knows how far this will go

But before Gibraltar, we headed southeast out of Sevilla toward the Mediterranean Coast and Gibraltar on its southernmost tip. As we headed south, the farmland opened up and while most of the land was being used for farming, mostly sunflowers, some of the land was being used for ranching, and more specifically for raising bulls to be used in bull fights. While bull fighting is a tradition in Spain, its popularity has been diminishing over the years with bull fighting prohibited in some of Spain’s territories, and fully 20% of Spaniards find bull fighting disturbing. But for now, the cities all have bull fighting rings and bull fighting is still a national sport.

Beyond the bull ranches, the terrain begins to become more mountainous as we approach the Mediterranean coast, and the Rock of Gibraltar began to loom in the distance. The peak of the Rock of Gibraltar rises about 1300 ft out of the water, but the total area is only about 2.5 sq miles. It has a population of about 32,000 people who are a combination of British, Spanish, and Moroccans. It has housed military bases throughout the various wars, as it is right at the entrance of the Straights of Gibraltar which is a 9 mile wide passage between Spain and North Africa at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. But now Gibraltar’s military have mostly left, and the locals rely mostly on tourism, and online-gambling for its economy. Because of it’s unique status, it is somehow the preferred tax haven for most of the worlds online gambling.

So, the bus dropped us off at the Spanish Customs office so we could show our passports and wals nacross to the British side. We then boarded a British mini-bus for our trip to the town square. But first we had to wait at the aircraft crossing, much like a railroad crossing as the road crosses the active runway, and we have to wait whenever a plane takes off or lands. Fortunately that only happens a few times per day. Once dropped in the square, we had a couple of hours of free time to grab some lunch and visit a few shops. There was one main street, running the length of the town, but being a Sunday morning, a number of the shops were closed. There was also a cruise ship in port, so the streets were a little crowded. A lot of the shops looked like the typical cruise ship destination shops, and all the jewelry looked like the typical cruise ship stuff.

But we did manage to find a couple of interesting t-shirts, and while they did have some good Fish & Chips restaurants, it was too early, and we didn’t want a big lunch, so we ended up with each having a slice of locally made pepperoni pizza. It was pretty good! We split the group and boarded 2 mini-busses for a “Tour of the Rock”. This was actually a lot of fun! Tito, the driver was a local and drove us through town and along the coast showing us the various points of interest.

We then headed up the rock on some very narrow, very steep streets. The goal was to get to St-Michaels Cave near the top of the Rock. About halfway up we began to encounter the Barbary Macaque wild monkeys that live near the top. They are very tame, and will just sit there as you walk up to them, or play in the vicinity of humans as if we are not even there. Some were mothers carrying small babies. In fact, we were all standing around a mother who was hiding her young baby while trying to open a package of chips she had found. Someone complained out loud that she couldn’t see the baby, and the monkey must have heard her as she stopped what she was doing and moved her arms so we could all see the baby and take pictures. She then just went back to what she was doing. Amazing!

We finally reached St Michael’s Cave, named because one of the formations was supposed to look like Michael the Archangel, and I guess it did! We toured the cave, and since Jody & I had been to many many caves in the USA, this one had some nice formations, but everything was lit up with colored lights, they played loud music, an had some sort of light show on the walls every 7 minutes. Caves are usually about the quiet and the darkness, so we were not impressed. Be we did come out of the cave and walked around some the the park area, and there were some wonderful scenic views that Jody & I and all our new found monkey friends thoroughly enjoyed. There is even a cable car that runs continuously between the bottom and top of the Rock, but we didn’t get the chance to ride it.

After about 3 hours, we had seen about all there was to see on Gibraltar, and it was time to head back down the road and back into Spain. As we continued east along the Mediterranean, we were entering the area where rich people around Europe go to for either their summer home or there retirement. The land is very mountainous, and the houses are built on the hillsides overlooking the Mediterranean. It’s all so beautiful, and I’m sure, very expensive!

When we got about a half hour from the hotel, we made a quick stop in the village of Mijas, a little 14^th century village on a hilltop with some spectacular views of the Mediterranean below. The o]town also boasts Donkey Taxi rides through the streets, but we decided to pass on that. Instead, the real reason for our visit was to go to the Happiness Laboratory for what was purported to be the best gelato on the Mediterranean coast. It did not disappoint! The gelato was delicious and the best we’ve had so far on this trip.

Thirty minutes later, we were pulling into seacoast city of Malaga, now called the Costa Del Sol. Our hotel is right on the beach of the Mediterranean and it all looks great and relaxing. The hotel also has a great buffet dinner with ove 100 items available. It felt like dinner on a cruise ship. The food was delicious and of course the desserts were even better!

Tomorrow is a relaxing day, where we get up late, we don’t leave for our tour until 9:00 and we’ll be back by noon to enjoy either the beach or the pool for the entire afternoon!

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