Day Trip to Gibraltar (and Algeciras)

Wednesday, May 31, 2017--Gibraltar and Algeciras

We were up very early to get off on the two-bus trip to Gibraltar.  Following breakfast, we were at the bus station for an 8:30 departure to Algeciras.  Once there, we had to switch to a local bus to continue to La Linea in Spain which is a 3 minute walk from the border with Gibraltar.

The day was sunny and warm with the same forecast for Gibraltar.  However, as is often the case on a warm summer day when a mountain exists, there was a cloud hanging around the very top of the mountain caused by a wind with warm and humid conditions that results in a rock-top cloud that can linger over a city--called a levant condition.  As we crossed the border, we could see the towers at the top through holes in the clouds, so it wasn't too bad. 

One of the fun things of making a land crossing to Gibraltar is that the airport is right at the border and the runway is on landfill.  The only way to get to the city is to walk across the landing strip!  As we walked through, the terminal was on our left with an EasyJet parked at it.  Also just to our left on the landing strip itself were the black skid marks made by landing planes, while to our right was the rest of the runway where they finished stopping the planes before turning around to go to the terminal. 

Of course, while crossing the airstrip, ahead to the left looms the mountain with its flat, rocky side to the left and the green sloping side to the right going down to the city.  It looks just like it did on the Prudential homeowner's policy I had for my home in Corpus Christi.  

Beyond there, after passing a few gas stations, one enters Basemates Square, a huge square with sidewalk cafes and restaurants and a few shops.  Beyond there is Main Street lined with typical British shops--tobacconists, drug stores, department stores such as Debenhams and Marks & Spencer, liquor stores, etc.--all selling at reduced duty-free prices.  My comparison with prices I remembered from Andorra showed that these were a bit more expensive, but not by much.  What was more striking after 8 weeks of being in France and Spain was just seeing all the signs in English.

It was a bit cool because of rather strong winds.  That made me worry a bit about going to the top of the mountain.  I was afraid it would be cold and more windy there.  But that was one of the main reasons we were here.  We bought a one-way ticket to the top (12.50 Gibraltar pounds each which equals 12.50 British pounds each, since the Gibraltar currency is pegged to the British one in value). 

The ride up the cable car was scarier than I expected.  There are graphics which show the height of the mountain in comparison to skyscrapers to show how high it really is.  But hanging in open air in a small cable car seems to exaggerate that height.  Why do I say that?  Because once we were on ground on top, it didn't seem nearly as high as it did while looking down from the cable car.  And even better, it was no colder and the wind was actually lighter up there than it had been down at ground level.  We could see to the ground on the city side, but the other side was completely fogged out.  That also means that at no point were we able to see Africa.  That bothered Wes, because he really wanted to see it, but I have been to Africa.  I would have enjoyed seeing it from Europe, but was not as bothered by the fog that hid it from us as he was.

After exploring the top of the mountain, we started our descent.  Along the way, we encountered the famous Gibraltar Barbary Macaques which are everywhere.  Neither Wes nor I cared much about that.  I have had similar ones trying to enter my room in India before, and Wes seemed to see them as dirty, undesirable animals.  Of course, most tourists probably have never seen such an animal outside of a zoo, so they were going crazy taking photos--literally crazy in one situation where a man sat down with his two sons so that one of the macaques was between the two sons.  Hadn't he read enough to realize how dangerous this situation was?  They may be small, but they are very strong animals and can cause great injury to a person if they become upset.

We took a combination of roads and very narrow trails on the way down the mountain.  One of the highlights was walking across the Windsor Suspension Bridge which has a long drop-off below it.  Along the way, we also saw some of the tunnels that are dug all through Gibraltar and some of the battlements that were built with large guns/canons to support the defense during the wars. 

As we were nearing the bottom of the mountain and had entered some of the upper neighborhoods, we started seeing children in costumes--a Viking, some Greek goddesses, a maid, a chimney sweep, a baker, a beggar, etc.  We figured that it was because of a school pageant.  As one woman, also in a costume along with her daughter passed us, she rolled her eyes as we watched them and said, "Victoria Day!" 

Back on the bottom, we walked through the Gibraltar Botanic Gardens and Wildlife Park, a very beautiful green area.  Then we returned back down Main Street and across the airport runway to leave.  The alarms started going off just as we were on the runway to indicate that car and people traffic was being stopped due to the expected arrival of another plane.  We had to finish crossing quickly and didn't wait to see the plane land.

We took the local bus back to Algeciras so that we could get something to eat before continuing our return to Jerez de la Frontera.  It is a big city with a huge port and is located just across the bay from Gibraltar.   We had seen a halal kebab place near the bus station and went there.  It was great.  But we still had about 1 1/2 hours before our return bus.  So we walked around Algeciras seeing the center of the city.  It's a rather depressed downtown with many empty storefronts, but it was still interesting to explore.  In our long walk, we probably didn't see more than four other tourists; it just isn't a destination for them.