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| The rock of Gibraltar |
After we'd been to Spain’s Costa del Sol, we drove to Gibraltar (also known as the Rock). Driving toward it, we could see the Rock's profile, with a near vertical cliff on one side, slopping down to the township at its flat base, all surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea. It’s about 7 square kilometres in size.
Although at the southern end of Spain, Gibraltar is actually British Territory.
It has a population of around 30,000 mainly British and Spanish people, and sadly, twice that number of cars. The thick traffic waiting to get onto the Rock moved slowly and it was 6.30 pm by the time we drove onto it.
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| Gibraltar architecture |
We noticed that Gibraltar has a varied architectural style that, understandably, reflects its occupation over the centuries. So we saw an interesting mix of British, Spanish and Moorish architecture. For example, the Cathedral of St Mary the Crowned has a Moorish courtyard inside a Gothic structure.
But instead of sightseeing, we needed to find a camping ground for the night. We had read that there were three in Gibraltar.
Then suddenly, we spotted a sign for “Camping” and followed the arrows up a very narrow one-way street to arrive at the Prince Edward Gate.
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| Prince Edward's Gate, Gibraltar |
The 'Gate' was a stone arch and signs at the side of it, told us that it was 2.13 metres wide – about the same width as our motorhome, Vanni - eeek!
Because of the road layout, and the traffic behind us, we couldn’t do a U-turn or reverse.
So, Marg folded Vanni’s huge mirrors in, and Leigh got out of the van, and walked backwards guiding Marg through the narrow arch very, very, very slowly.
Almost through, Leigh spotted a young man who had an incredulous look on his face. She asked him if we would make it through the next street to the camping site.
He said “no way” and…. "there is no camping site"!
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| Narrow street around Prince Edward's Gate |
At this point, we were just through the gate, and eyeing the narrow streets ahead. He advised us to turn at the next street and to stop the traffic first as it was one-way going the other way!
So, we did that, then near the end of that street, a boy speaking in his best English on behalf of his Dad, said that all the nearby streets were narrow and one-way going the other way, and that we would have to stop the traffic again at every turn! So we did that too.
We eventually made it to the main street.
Then we stopped at a garage for advice on overnight parking, and they suggested Catalin Bay car park.
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| Free-camping at Eastern Beach, Gibraltar |
We found it, and it was a huge public car park, right on the point of the Rock at Eastern Beach.
We settled in for the night, but before long the local police arrived and tried to move us on. Luckily, once we outlined our horrendous time in Gibraltar thus far, they said we could stay, but just for one night.....lovely!
It blew a gale overnight, but we were happy - we had an amazing view of the rock on one side, and the sea on the other, and we were safe for the night.
The next morning, we caught a bus into town and bought a trip to see the "highlights of Gibraltar". It turned out to be a good decision for the short time that we had.
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| Marg with an endangered Barbary Macaque monkey, Gibraltar |
We saw such a lot, including Barbary Macaque monkeys. They are the only wild monkeys found in Europe, and were introduced to Gibraltar in the 12th Century from Morocco.
They apparently are commonly confused with apes. They live in packs around the Rock and can be a bit scary, especially in a large group. Unfortunately, they are an endangered species.
We also spent time in the St Michael's Cave, a natural grotto rich in stalagmites and stalactites. It is about 3000 m above sea level and Neanderthal man is proved to have lived there around 40,000 BC.
Another great experience on this short tour, was taking the cable car to the top of the Rock.
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View from the cable car |
It was a very quick 6 minute ride up, with many monkeys at the top. But the views of the Rock, its port and the Mediterranean Sea, were stunning.
We were also taken through the streets and shown the Gibraltar Cathedral, The Governor’s Residence, the Gibraltar Parliament buildings, the St Mary Roman Catholic Church, and other key places.
We managed a peek at the centre of Gibraltar and have a walk around Gibraltar's shopping precinct, cafes, and restaurants.
Also on our visit list was the Great Siege Tunnels, built during the Great Siege of Gibraltar in 1779-1883.
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| Leigh in the Great Siege Tunnels, Gibraltar |
They consist of a labyrinth of man-made tunnels that contain cannons and other armaments there to protect the Straits.
They were excavated by the Royal Engineers, to defend Gibraltar, and are over 30 miles long.
By the end of the day, we were quite pleased that we'd purchased this tour, because we saw so much in one day. A longer time there would have been nice, but the Police had shortened our visit…and we would be hard to miss us if we stayed.
It then took us over 60 minutes to wend our way the short distance necessary to get off the Rock and through the customs process, to get back into Spain.
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Africa, just 15 km across the strait from Tarifa
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Once in Spain, we drove south to Tarifa. We decided to have several days there while we arranged to get a car ferry over to Morocco in Africa, only 15 km away across the Straits of Gibraltar.
We found a campsite on the Straits where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean Sea, and it was lovely.
Tarifa is a very pretty coastal town and we visited the ferry terminal there to purchase our ferry tickets. However, it was going to cost us €366. We felt that was way too much and thought we would have to cross Morocco off our trip list.
However, when leaving the counter, a man in the queue suggested that it would be cheaper to buy tickets online. We went online back at the campsite and found a “camping car special” advertised for €100 less. However, when we went to pay on line, the price went up.
After several unsuccessful tries, we emailed the ferry company and they made the booking on our behalf for the advertised price - lovely.
The next morning, we were on our way to Morocco.