The Rock of Gibraltar!

Gibraltar - Nov. 29

We had a day out to the British colony of Gibraltar - extremely expensive and really just a tourist trap.  You literally drive across the airport runway to get there from Spain. Customs was hilarious. Flash your passport - they don't even look at it. Why bother?

There it is!  The Rock of Gibraltar - seen from inside the bus.

The causeway from Spain to the Rock of Gibraltar.  Pretty sidewalk.

They 'reclaim' a lot of land here.

Crossing the airplane runway to get to Gibraltar.  By bus of course.

Leaving was a bit more complex.  We all had to exit the bus, walk past a couple of disinterested customs officers and flash our passport, and then walk past the guys who were supposed to check that we weren’t smuggling anything.  They were busy talking to each other and ignored us :-)  I thought it was probably best NOT to photograph them!

Airplane runway.  No big deal.  Walkers going back to Spain.

We got out here and walked through customs.

Apparently the Spaniards go to Gibraltar to purchase things ‘duty free’, which really only means there is no VAT tax.  However, I found my favourite perfume in one of the shops priced at 68 British pounds (didn’t buy it as it was no great bargain), and later found it in the old town of Malaga for 52 euros, which included the tax.  So I’m not too sure they get much of a bargain going there.  We had some fish and chips, because technically we were in Britain, so it seemed right.  Didn't buy anything else.

Typical alleyway in the town.  Big Spanish influence.

I just liked this sign.  It was an advertisement for the internet/television/phone company in Gibraltar.

Pretty balcony in the town

We did enjoy looking through the huge St. Michael's Cave there - they hold concerts in it, so it’s been gussied up a bit with cement bleachers and some very unfortunate lighting that turns the cave various shades of green, purple, red and blue.   Kind of spoils the effect, in my opinion.  I did my best to get shots in while the lights were changing, but I didn’t do too well.  But really an amazing place to stand in and just enjoy.

Entering the cave - lots of bleachers here for enjoying shows.  Sorry about the purple.

Stalactite details.  Huge.  Sorry about the blue and green.

Looking back on the entrance - it's massive.  Sorry about the blue and yellow

More pretty details.  Sorry about the fuchsia.

Finally - got a shot in between the garish lights.

Cross-section of a stalactite that fell.  It's hundreds of years old and very beautiful.

Exiting the cave

Looks like something out of a Tolkien novel

There are a number of macaque apes that live nearby the cave, and they were quite entertaining to watch while we waited for the bus.  Apparently their chief occupation is picking nits off each other and eating them.

Macaque apes on Gibraltar - nitpicking

View back to Spain from high up near St. Michael's Cave

I liked this tree - kind of arbutus-like.  

Super steep roads on the island . . . and narrow too.

The bus took us on a tour of the island, and there are miles of tunnels that were built in the second world war - these have full living and medical facilities, but were never needed.  We didn’t go into the tunnels.

These giant rings stuck into the hillside were interesting.
To get supplies up the steep hills to the tunnels, they would
use rope to pull them up and it would get threaded through
a series of rings to stabilize as they pulled.  Crazy!

The mosque that cost 5 million pounds to build (5 years ago) and when it
was opened, sixty limousines brought in the Saudi royalty.  Can you say
excess, Batman?

Looking out towards Africa and the Strait of Gibraltar

It’s a place that’s really been built on the side of a large cliff, so property is expensive.  They have done considerable “land reclamation” from the ocean so a lot of the flat areas where the shops and tourist area are, is supposed to be under a lot of water.  What does reclaimed mean anyhow?  We had a long discussion about that.  I mean, was it there before, and people got it back?  Food for thought.

Most of the flat area seen here where the buildings are is 'reclaimed' from the ocean

 It was an interesting day, but I don't think I'd bother going back there.