#2705 vacation day 6: Gibralter ~ UPDATED! ~

I think I may have a work-around for the photos on the posts, but the WiFi is very slow, so since tomorrow is a sea day, I will try to update the last few posts with the photos then. We’ll see how it goes.

Today was our first official port of call on the cruise - the British territory of Gibraltar. I didn’t know much about the place, other than the Rock of Gibraltar, and the Straits of Gibraltar, and that if it is a clear enough day, you can see both Africa and Spain from The Rock, or it turns out, from the cruise ship.We didn’t book any excursions from the ship because we just didn’t know what to do, and I’m happy to say, that most everything turned out just fine.

We left the ship around 10 AM and walked into the town. The place has been occupied since the 16th century - a British territory since 1704 says the new magnet I bought. As you might expect, The Rock dominates the landscape, so we decided the best idea was to take the cable car to the top and take a look around. There was a maps of the island all along the walk, so it was easy to figure out where to go. Also, you could plainly see the cable car and the lines. The island is small and very walk-able.

We walked through an old part of town that was charming. The old buildings held new shops. Today is Easter Monday, so many shops were closed for the holiday, but most of the tourist places and restaurants were open. We were walking through early enough that it wasn’t crowded. It is a cool place. 

A trip up and back plus tickets to the Nature Reserve up there cost 42.5 euros each. The ride takes about six minutes and goes up around 460 meters (over 1,500 ft). Are there monkeys up at the top? Yes, there are definitely monkeys. Macaque monkeys, to be exact. They mostly sit around and look at the people, but one woman who was near us went around a building and a baby monkey jumped on her head and began grooming her, she told me. Then the mama monkey sort of growled and baby jumped off the woman to its mother. I saw the mama and the baby. I didn’t go by them. 

The monkeys were everywhere. I don’t care for the monkeys.

 

The views from the top are spectacular. There are many beaches on the Mediterranean side. On the other side, you can see all the cargo ships that come in to refuel through the Straits. It was a clear enough day and you could plainly see Morocco, the Straits, and Spain. It was sunny and warm. I got hot and a little sweaty. I also have a nice pink forehead this evening from my adventures. (Yes, I was wearing sunscreen.) So does MT. We did a bit of walking in the Nature Preserve. You can take a path all the way down The Rock, but I wasn’t interested in doing that. Maybe if we had planned for it and I had different clothes and shoes we could have done it. As it was, we took the tram back down.

Another monkey story: MT went to check out some old buildings in the Nature Preserve. I didn’t want to because the steps were steep and had loose gravel and there wasn’t a handrail. It was quite narrow, too. I went back up to the Skywalk platform (dedicated by Mark Hamil) and was waiting and watching the people and the monkeys. There was a boy, probably around 12 or 13, who was shaking a bottle of water at a monkey that was sitting on the fence. The monkey just watched the boy and didn’t do anything
until later, when the boy and his family were heading back up the trail to the cable car. When MT rejoined me, we saw that the monkey was sitting on the boy’s head. The boy was freaking out and his family was laughing and taking photos. MT was troubled by the scene until I told him about that boy taunting the monkey with the bottle of water. You get what you deserve, kid. Leave the monkeys alone. All the signs all over The Rock tell you to leave the monkeys alone, but you would not believe how many people were sitting by the monkeys, taking selfies and taunting the monkeys with everything from water bottles to face masks, etc. Horrible.

We rode the cable car back down and headed back to town. It was just after 12, so we thought we’d get some lunch. There was a super cute restaurant not far from the cable car place, but it was on the other side of the road and we decided to continue into the old town instead of crossing the street. We passed by a place that had a sign declaring they had “Probably the best fish and chips on Gib.” We passed that place by, too, and a couple of others that looked busy but likely could have seated us. We ended up at a place called Rock Fish & Chips. We chose it because there were some people sitting at tables having a nice looking beer and there was an available table in the shade. We failed to notice that the beer drinkers were not eating anything. We ordered fish and chips. We each received one huge chunk of fish and some chips. MT wanted to know if there was any tartar sauce. No. There was tasteless malt vinegar, though. I’m gonna tell you, it was not good. They could have a sign saying “Probably NOT the best fish and chip on Gib.” In fact, it was pretty gross. I cut into my fish and there was all skin in the middle. Same for MT. It was not nice. The chips were bland, too. The beer was good. When we left, when we were far from the restaurant/bar, MT and I both declared that it might have been the worst fish and chips we’ve ever had. It was so bad, it was actually comical.

Back on the ship, we found an awesome table on Deck 16 almost right above our cabin. We sat out there for a couple of hours, reading and drinking, taking photos off the back of the ship, and laughing about our crappy lunch.We both loved being on The Rock and walking through the town, though. When we left the port, the captain announced that he could see a pod of dolphins playing in the ship’s wake off the port side of the ship, so we quickly went over to watch. How cool! The dolphins were jumping and riding the waves. What a fun way to say good-bye to Gibraltar!

Today’s step count: 16,699  7 miles. 39 flights.