Episode 6 - Day 4 Trip to the Rock...

Its Monday and we are up early, before 6am... Big day today we are off to Gibraltar and this is by far the happiest day so far, 'cause I am in my own clothes!!! We leave the Hotel before 8am and head east along the A22 other wise known as "Via Infante de Sagres" in Portugal as soon as we hit Spain the name changes to "Autopisia Del V Centario" by the way because of the European Union there is no customs to go between the 2 countries!! We take this road all the way to Sevilla (Seville) and we did not a see a barber, however we did see an Ikea! In Sevilla we changed roads and headed south toward Cadiz on the "Autovia de Sur" once we reached Cadiz we briefly went through Jerez and continued south on the "Autovia del Mediterrano" and we were headed for La Linea "The Line" because my Aunt and Uncle had warned us about the strained relations between Spain and Great Britain they advised us to park in Spain and walk across the Border into Gibraltar and we were certainly glad we did that the line of cars was sooooooooooo long that we would have been sitting and wasting a lot of time to get into the country. Of course since Great Britain is not a fully fledged member of the European Union (because they do not use the Euro as currency) we had to walk through Customs and there was no line, no line at all we just presented our passports and walked right through and onto a live airfield operated by RAF Gibraltar:

The Rock, no not Alcatraz, this is The Rock of Gibraltar in front of us in all its glory. We made our way through Mainstreet, which is a HUGE shopping district, we headed for the cable cars, I know I was not at all thrilled at the upcoming event that lay before me, my fear of heights was starting to take over my brain and I was beginning to get testy, We reached the cable car platform, well we saw the cable car platform and the line of people waiting in it, the estimated wait time was one hour and of course captain impatient was not at all pleased. We were approached by a man named Jacky who said he would drive us to the top in his van, so we elected to take him up on his offer and along with six other people we were in for a ride with a crazy driver!!! He did tell us a little about the peninsula, although I already knew most of it, he was very charming and explained how the British won Gibraltar from the Spanish in 1704 and the Spanish want it back, but the British Government put the little country to a vote and the people of Gibraltar have elected to stay British, certainly annoying the Spanish! Our first stop was the Pillars of Hercules where we could see across the Straits of Gibraltar and in the distance we saw Africa!

Yep that's Africa in the Distance! We got back in the van and stopped at St. Michaels cave, which although very stunning, was a lot like Luray Caverns in Virginia but not as grand. (How American of me to compare something British and it not be as big!!!!) Inside the cave I got stuck behind a little old Korean woman who was half blind and kept yelling for her "Daddy" Okay at this point of the trip the other people in the van with us were all laughing at me because 1. they all figured out pretty quick that I did not like heights and 2. because I got really nervous and fidgety - Whatever! The driver also drove like a maniac and did not help my nerves! The next stop we went to we saw the famous Barbary Macaques (apes) they were very friendly and quite snatchy and we were all warned to not put our hands in our pockets because the apes will think we had food and would try and get into our pockets to check for themselves. but they were so cute. also at this point which was near the very top of the rock you could see all three bodies of water, The Atlantic Ocean on the right, the Straits of Gibraltar in front and the Mediterranean on the left.

Aww, they were perched on top of "The Rock" I myself would have been afraid I would fall. After we were done at the top looking at the Apes and the views we got back in the van and were headed back down. We stopped at the military tunnels and walked down some, but soon we were on our way again and we passed by a Moorish Castle and then back down to Mainstreet for lunch! mmmm I had Steak and Ale Pie and Hubby had Bangers and Mash, then we did a little shopping for souvenirs and then it was time to head back to the car. There were canons all over the small country left from the World Wars and some were gifts from other countries. They were all just stunning! We walked back across the flight line and back through Customs, nothing to declare!, and Hubby stopped to get a coffee to go, there is no coffee to go in Portugal, and then we were back in the car and went back the way we came. We got back to the Hotel around Ten O' clock and were so tired that we went right to sleep!!!

Tomorrow is another day.... til next post....