… of Gibralter, for some monkey business. Looking just like a Prudential ad, the rock is a limestone cliff. It separates Africa from Europe, and links the Atlantic Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea. Far from being “solid as a rock,” the rock of Gibralter has become a honeycomb of caves and tunnels. One of the earliest inhabited places in all of Europe, during prehistoric times Gibralter may have been one of the last Neanderthal settlements. Its recorded history began in 950 BC with the Phoenicians. Now a British colony of less than 3 square miles, Gibralter is located at the tip of the Spanish Iberian peninsula, at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. The name comes from “Gebel Tarik” or Tariq’s Rock, named for the Moorish army leader who came from North Africa to begin the conquest of Spain for Islam. Only slightly less important, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were married in Gibralter in 1969. It looked serene as we arrived early in the morning.
Our excursion turned out to be a bit of an endurance test. A van took us to the cable car for a ride to the top of the Rock. We reached an observation platform, where a special treat was watching an EasyJet plane land on one of the world’s shortest and most dangerous runways.
We walked along the steep and hilly ridge, stopping to visit with Gibralter’s most famous residents, the Barbary apes. Not really apes, they’re actually tailless monkeys, or macaques, which originally came from Africa. Local folks believe the British will keep the Rock only as long as the Barbary Apes remain. During WWII, aware of this belief, Winston Churchill imported additional monkeys from North Africa.
The apes are fed oranges and other fruits on top of the rock, partly to keep them from coming to the city to forage for food. After time spent watching the apes, including seeing one ape trampoline off the shoulders of a fellow passenger, we continued our walk along the ridge toward St. Michael’s Cave. As we neared the cave, our tour guide received a phone call telling him that he was taking us on the wrong tour and we weren’t supposed to visit the cave. He’d already gotten tickets, so we proceeded on into the cave, noted for its fantastic stalagmites and stalactites.
We re-boarded the van for a ride to a steep hill leading to the Siege Tunnels, which were blasted out of the Rock during the British defense of Gibralter against the Spanish and French in 1779 to 1783. One of the British generals got the idea to create tunnels in the rock itself, and to place guns at strategic locations to defend the harbor. These tunnels proved a great success and were re-occupied and greatly enlarged during WWII. The path through the tunnels was long and steep, plunging down into the mountain. Unfortunately, there is only one entrance, so what walks down must trudge up again.
Our guide assured us that we would see “everything” because of the tour mix-up. Everything included a stop at the Gibralter Museum, to look at the remains of a 14th century Turkish bath excavated in the museum basement, and a fascinating Neanderthal exhibit. Based on research done in Gibralter, current beliefs are that the Neanderthals co-existed and even interbred with modern man. Reconstructed Neanderthal skulls found in Gibralter caves look amazingly like modern man.
The tour continued with a trip to the Europa Flats lighthouse, followed by a drive along the eastern coast of Gibralter. The guide dropped us back in town at the main square, where we ate a lunch of Sunday Roast, the local specialty, at an outdoor café.
A day in Gibralter: 13,000 steps and more than 30 flights of stairs! Pear cider: optional, but delicious.
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