Rock On

Sunday, July 27, 2014 –

Gibraltar is a British crown colony, a tax free zone and the Florida of Britain, with warm winters and hot summers.  Real estate is pricey compared to Spain and Portugal.  Gibraltar is only three miles long and less than one mile wide.  With a population of 30,000 living in less than three square miles and the Rock taking up a large portion of the land mass, it really is city living.  The apartment buildings are mostly on one side of the island, many 7-10 stories tall, with some older buildings along the base of the Rock.  Since there are very few individual homes the parks across Gibraltar serve as the family playgrounds.  The parks are beautifully maintained and always full of families with young children and dogs, even late into the evening.

The most popular route to the top of the Rock is by cable car, so we went for a ride up mid-day.  It took us about 5 hours to work our way back down, hiking and exploring.  At the top we were greeted by the Barbary Macaques (apes) who are resident on the Rock, the only place they are found outside of northern Africa.  They have a pecking order within the group and consider humans to be lower than they are.  With their opposing thumbs and lack of fear of humans, they entertain themselves stealing cameras and any food they can from tourists.  Most are able to open a zipped bag if they believe it contains food.  We watched one unwrap and consume a cereal bar, then lick the chocolate off his fingers when done.  Very human behavior.   There were a dozen or so babies hanging on to their mothers that looked only a few months old at the most.  They are a major tourist attraction.

The Rock still serves as a major military post and the very top is off limits to tourists.  Siege tunnels were dug into the Rock during the Great Siege which provided a defense system.  The Great Siege, in the late 1700s was an unsuccessful attempt by Spain with the help of France to retake Gibraltar from the British.  They attempted this during the American War of Independence thinking that the British would be distracted and give up easily.  Unlike an attack, a “siege” involves surrounding the enemy to cut off supply lines and waiting. The stand-off lasted 3 years, 7 months and was the longest siege endured by the British Armed Forces.  In the end Spain launched an attack but the British forces prevailed. Gibraltar is the key link in Britain’s control of the Mediterranean Sea.

After the Siege the tunnels were expanded to over 30 miles.  Good thing.  They were used again in both World Wars.  Even today, while they are a major tourist attraction here, very little of them are open to the public.  Most of the tunnels inside the Rock are secret and off limits to the public.  From inside the public areas you can see internal offices, radio rooms, and even a space for a hospital, as well as cannon and gun positions overlooking the waters around Gibraltar.  During WWII Eisenhower spent a brief period overseeing the battles from an office inside the Rock.

Even today there is still a squabble between Spain and Britain over Gibraltar as Spain wants to take it back.  Just 12 years ago Gibraltar residents voted again to remain under Britain.  Due to their location, most residents are bi-lingual.  A large number of workers in Gibraltar live over the border of Spain in the border town of Li Linea and walk across the border to work every day.

We are still finding ourselves to be the only American boat since entering the continent.  Most boats we see are French or German.  This morning we did see a Russian flagged boat entering the marina.