Some more photos from the Rock

Here are some more photos from the Rock.


Views from the Mediterranean steps.

Straits of Gibraltar, with Morocco visible at the horizon.

The Rock

Pillars of Hercules Monument

Gibraltarian Bobby.


The Rock seen from the beach in La Linea in Spain.


The Rock with Spanish La Linea in the foreground.

Monkey business and Mola mola

I had a great day on the Rock today. Started with a visit at the somewhat dusty museum, then spent two hours on a boat looking for dolphins. We didn't see any of them, but we did see a sun fish (mola mola in latin)! First time I've seen one of those.

Then I took the cable car up to the top of the rock to take more monkey photos. They are a fun and charachter strong bunch, those monkeys. Had lots of fun and took hundreds of photos.
Afterwards, I spent hours walking about on the many paths, checking out old bunkers, enjoying the views and finally walking all the way down via the Mediterranean steps, which took the better part of two hours.

Now, I am driving to Almunecar and Hotel California for a week of paragliding :-)

Cloudy on the top

This morning, I ventured up to the top of the Gibraltar Rock. And for once, it was cloudy. It makes it cooler, which is nice, but it also makes it a lot harder to get nice photos. I still had a nice time, taking photos of the monkeys. One of them jumped up on my arm (although not as dramatically as the little rascal on the photo with the lady, below). I will try to go up there tomorrow again, hoping that the blue sky will be back.

I also had a walk through some of the 50 kilometers of military tunnels that hollows the rock. The ones I visited were created during WWII, as a fortress within the fortress.

And I had a look at the huge merchant vessel that collided with the Rock just below the lighthouse, in October last year. It was totally wrecked and is still lying there, although scrap recovery is ongoing.

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?