Gibraltar - a peculiar place

Gibraltar is a peculiar place. Only five kilometers long and two kilometers wide, the small peninsular with its characteristic rock belongs to Great Britain ever since 1704. And although London and Madrid nowadays agree in the fact that the anachronistic colony should be handed over to Spain and be given autonomous status (much like the Basque province) the 28.000 persons living on the Rock very much disagrees. They want to stay British.

Today, they are going to the polls to elect UK’s members of the European Parliament. It is only the second time they are allowed to participate in this election, and that only because they forced the British Government to it, taking the issue to the European Court of Human Rights, and winning.

But despite the fish’n chips, the Mark & Spencers and the pubs, Gibraltar gives an impression more of a North African city. Stroll in the narrow alleys up the hill from the touristy Main Street and you will meet both Moroccans and Ultraorthodox Jews in hats and beards. Many of the houses are in a terrible state of disrepair and in general you get the feeling of a rather poor backwater.
On the other hand, if you walk down to the waterfront, you will find fancy gated communities and huge construction sites on reclaimed land – both phenomena a result of the more, or less, legal offshore trading and tax-free business.

Well, I arrived here yesterday, and then just walked around to try and get a grip of this odd piece of rock. Today I am going to be my normal professional tourist (after all, I am here to work), visiting the historical sites and saying hello to the monkeys. I wonder what they think about the Spanish-British issue?