Where In The World Is The Rash Family?: Gibraltar

One of the main reasons we wanted to travel this far south was to go to the Strait of Gibraltar. It is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. The shortest distance between the two continents is 7 miles. Ferries go across several times a day in only 35 minutes. It is also known for having apes, or tailess monkeys, that live close to the top. We could only hope to get a glance of these free running creatures.

Gibraltar is its own country so we would be crossing another border, yay! We were informed by a local that it is best to park in Le Linea on the Spain side because the traffic is quite congested on the Gibraltar side.

Right after we crossed the border we then had to cross the air strip of the Gibraltar Airport! That was bizarre. We fortunately got to see a plane land just moments after we were on the other side.

Gibraltar in background

We passed through a landport that was built in 1772. At the time it was the only way to get into Gibraltar other than by sea. Beautiful music was being played by some open hat musicians. It set the mood for our entrance. Lovely.

It was supposed to be a sunny day but the rain began to fall as soon as we parked. It would be a long hike to the top and back. We knew we wouldn't melt but we opted for a tour guide to take us up to the four major sites in a van. That's not really our style but Dennis was having trouble with his knee and I continued to nurse an irritated hamstring. Okay, we're weenies.

Morocco is behind us.

The van climbed the steep narrow one-way and we were so relieved to not be walking in the rain. Our first stop was St. Michael's Cave. We were excited that the monkeys were out and we were able to get close to them. We were instructed not to touch them because they could bite. We also couldn't have any snacks on us or they would try and get them....yikes! It was a bit intimidating.

This guy waits for the shopkeeper to give him a snack.

The cave was fabulous. It was very roomy inside and the stalagmites, which are the spikes coming out of the floor and the stalactites, the spikes coming from the ceiling were beautiful. One had fallen off and they sliced it in half to reveal growth rings much like that of a tree. The dark rings represented times of drought while the lighter colored rings were during heavy rainfalls.

There is a lower segment in the cave that was prepared as a hospital during WWII. It is now used as a concert hall.

Our next stop was the Ape's Den where Ronnie, our tour guide, helped us get up close and personal with the apes. The apes loved us. Without warning they were on our backs and shoulders. We weren't to touch them so everybody just stood there wating for Ronnie to come to our rescue.

Too bad Ireland didn't have any bugs in her hair that day.

Surely Indi has a banana in her pocket.

Such a comfortable head.

Raleigh looked on at all the entertainment with a cautious smile and had no idea that he also had a new friend. When the monkey patted his head he thought it was his daddy. It wasn't until the monkey tried to sit on his head did he shudder with shock.

Ronnie scolded a monkey for thinking about biting Indi. Hey, you can't blame him, she is a sweetie.

The rock of Gibraltar stands mighty in the background.

Our next stops were the Great Siege Tunnels that were hewn into the rock with the aid of the simplest of tools and gunpowder.
The 7 miles of tunnels were massive with many canons pointing towards Spain. There was a huge area called the magazine room that stored the gunpowder.

A tidbit of history on Gibraltar taken from Wikipedia

Gibraltar was conquered by the Moors in 711 a.d. it then became part of the Kindgom of Spain in 1462. It remained under Spainsh rule until 1704 when it was lost to the British. Spain continued to fight for it during the 18th century. It also played a vital role during the WWII by allowing the British to control entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. Negotiations over Gibraltar's status have continued between Britain and Spain but no conclusion has been reached.