Gibraltar – Where am I again?

Gibraltar (aka ‘The Rock’) is an interesting place. An overseas territory of the United Kingdom, but on Spain’s mainland, it seemed to have an identity crisis and one could be forgiven to question what country they are in when visiting. With a huge and impressive 426m high limestone rock jutting out from its surface and the population of monkeys living on (and what appeared to be owning) the upper part of the rock it’s certainly a unique place to visit.

During my visit to Tarifa, (read here), we decided to take a day trip to Gibraltar. Gibraltar has a rich history and has changed ownership many times (between the Moors, Spanish and now the British) since first being discovered in 940BC. During the War of the Spanish Succession in 1704, an Anglo-Dutch army invaded and captured Gibraltar from Spain. Since the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, Gibraltar has been officially under Great Britain’s rule. It is still a contentious issue between Spain and Britain, with many attempts by Spain to reclaim the territory. Throughout history, Gibraltar has served as an important military base. Nowadays though, it is mainly driven by tourism and shipping. Interesting Fact: The first Neanderthal skull to be discovered was found in Gibraltar in 1848.

The giant ‘rock’ can be seen a good distance away and driving towards it in our bus, we were all excited to explore this interesting place and see the famous monkeys.

Buses run direct from Tarifa and you can find timetables at www.tgcomes.es/horarios_33_english.htm. Essentially, you take the bus from Tarifa to La Linea de la Concepción, which is on the Spain side of the border. It is approximately a 10-minute walk to Gibraltar passport control (which was very relaxed the day we arrived and my passport barely got a glance before I was nodded through the country’s “border” into the United Kingdom territory). The first thing that screamed “we are British” was the iconic red phone booths just outside customs.

Gibraltar is fascinatingly odd, where pedestrians and cars walk/drive across the airport runway to get into town. We were greeted with tour guides who would try to sell dolphin and whale watching tours to us in English and Spanish. Walking into the town itself was also a strange experience; the architecture on the main street was very much like that in parts of London, with British stores and pubs spread out, advertising roasts, fish & chips and other typical British food. However, upon entering, we were greeted in Spanish! Whilst we were scratching our heads, wondering which language to speak in, we were able to enjoy watching English news and even eat Banoffee Pie.

With full stomachs, we headed towards the rock. We were “greeted” (and I must say that loosely, as it was more like a grunt from a cranky ticket attendant) at the gates. After an argument about the 30% markup to pay in Euros and her pushing us to buy the full pass that allowed entrance to all sights, we opted to buy the entrance to the nature reserve only and pay the inflated Euro price and began our journey.

NOTE: If you do decide to go up the rock, you can pay for a full pass (from memory £10 / €20), or just pay for the entrance to the nature reserve (£0.50 / €1) and then purchase each entrance separately (which works out to be slightly more expensive if you do plan to visit every attraction/museum). However, be warned, that when we visited Gibraltar, every attraction excluding St Michael’s Caves was “Closed until further notice”. Funny the ticket attendant forgot to mention that when she was trying to force the full pass on us!

Well, as soon as we began walking up the road, I got my money’s worth. We saw our first Barbary Macaque! These tailless monkeys are the only wild monkeys in the European continent. I found these monkeys and their story to be fascinating and they were my main motivation for visiting Gibraltar. Needless to say I wasn’t disappointed. The further up the rock we walked, the more monkeys we saw. They certainly have no issue with human interaction, nor a sense of personal space, and would walk right up to us. Thankfully our bags were tightly sealed, so they left empty handed this time (unlike from other stories I’ve heard!). Do not feed them or try to pat them, as you could get bitten or slapped with a fine. You need not be concerned about their health or hunger though, as these funny characters receive food and water daily and are continually monitored by Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society (GONHS).

 

And like any good animal story, there is a popular belief that as long as the Barbary Macaques exist on Gibraltar, the territory will remain under British rule. During World War II, the population was down to only seven monkeys. However, Sir Winston Churchill, not wanting to tempt fate, ordered that they be replenished and brought more over from Morocco and Algeria.

Well, we walked to the top, dodging the monkeys on our way up and managed to capture some beautiful views of Spain, Gibraltar and Africa.

Sadly, we missed the last cable car going back down (plan ahead and know what time things shut, especially during the off season!), so we walked back down to the main city. Whilst the walk wasn’t terribly difficult for us 20-30 somethings, it still takes time. By the time we got to the main part of town it was dark, so we headed straight back to La Linea de la Concepción to take the last bus back to Tarifa.

Gibraltar is certainly a fun day trip from Tarifa, and if you wanted to extend it to two days, you could find activities to fill your time (eg. dolphin cruises, duty-free shopping, etc). However, take note: Most places will accept Euros for payment, however you will either be charged a surcharge for the benefit, or not provided with change. So make sure you have plenty of change in Euros, or bring Pounds.