30 June Gibraltar the best day

A day late updating blog today – too tired last night. Had a full-on day and it was already midnight as we had treated ourselves to a dinner at the Waterfront restaurant.

We were also tired because we hadn’t had a very good night’s sleep due to some Moroccans smoking and blabbing at the top of their voices outside our window which we needed to have open for air, not sure how healthy the air was mind you with all the cigarette smoke. This is something we have noticed everywhere we have travelled – lots of smokers and smoking anywhere.

 

Anyway – back to an update on our activities for our full day in Gibraltar…..

It started with a full English breakfast – yummo.

We then trotted off to the Laundromat with our huge bags of dirty clothes and left them to be washed at a reasonable price.

That meant we were free for the entire day to explore and that we did. Pretty foot sore by the end but covered a lot of interesting ground.

We checked out the Kings Bastion first. For those of you that don’t know Gibraltar there are many bastions (defensive walls sometimes with buildings behind) all throughout. Some of them have been restored and some of them converted for other uses. The Kings Bastion has recently been converted to an incredible leisure centre- ice rink, bowling alleys, cinemas, pool tables, poker machines, cafes, bars – you name it they had it.

We found Dean, hard at work down by the marina – he is the Pier Master. Dean is the young guy who was relieving at the hotel when we arrived and who has been extremely friendly and helpful. He answered a whole heap more questions for us, such as where the Royal Gibraltar Yacht club was, as Bill’s Dad was a member there and used to sail with them. We found it, but it was in temporary accommodation as they were having a new club built. We got to chat to an old guy there who told us about the sailing race that was to be held that afternoon, which we saw from the top of the rock when we were up there later. He told us about the wooden boats that they sail.

Next we walked along past the port in the direction of the tourist office. We found the tourist office in Casemates Square in the city centre, where we chatted to two helpful young girls and picked up some maps, leaflets etc. 

We paused for a drink in the square which was packed with people in the cafes all around the square, listening to the musicians that were playing on the stage in the middle of the square. It was the last day of a three day Jazz festival being held there, so pleasant listening.

A quick look through the glassworks museum in the square then off to catch a bus to the cable car up to the top of the rock, as we found out that that was the easiest way to get there. We bought a one way ticket up in the cable car and a ticket for the Nature Reserve which gave us entry to all the features in the reserve on our way down.

This was taken as we were walking along the road below on our way down

After absorbing the incredible sights from the top of “the Rock”

 we indulged in a pie for lunch, eaten inside, as there is a 500 pond fine for feeding the apes.  Some people ignored the sign and before long there was an ape munching on someone’s orange and then sandwich

The rest of the afternoon we spent walking around the nature reserve exploring, O’Hara’s Battery, Michaels’s Cave, The Ape’s Den, Great Siege Tunnels, the City under Siege, Princess Caroline’s Battery, the Moorish Castle and several other ruins along the way. To view them all we had to walk quite some distance from one to the other, weaving our way back down the rock, but it was well worth it.

We got to check out the Top of the Rock 9.2” guns at the O’Hara’s Battery. The guns and the supporting infrastructure to fire the gun, the housings etc, have been restored and cleaned, with information explaining how the guns were operated. We weaved our way through intricate tunnels to see it all.  

There was an amazing view of the Atlas Mountains and across the straits from O’Hara’s battery

Michael’s Cave was incredibly understated in the Lonely Planet. It is the best example of Stalagmites and Stalactites that I have ever seen. It is a beautiful natural grotto that was prepared as a hospital during WW11 and is now used as a unique auditorium.

There didn’t seem to be as many apes as I remember when I visited the rock as a child but there were plenty to be seen, looking so majestic

The Great Siege tunnels are an impressive defence system devised by the military engineers, excavated during the siege of 1779-1783. The tunnels were hewn into the rock with the aid of the simplest tools and gunpowder.

The City under Siege site had some very well done life sized models

Whilst up the top we just managed to see a Hercules cargo carrier landing and all the traffic being held up as it taxied across the road

This is a view of the other end of the runway from the Siege tunnels

The fortifications on and around the Moorish castle were first built in 1160

As we walked around, we kept coming across guns in various different places and positions so we have lots of photos of guns

We almost ran out of time as we needed to be back at the Laundromat by 6pm to pick up our laundry. We just made it, hot and exhausted and so called in at the bar next door for a pint.

Walk back to the hotel for a freshener shower and out for a pleasant dinner by the water next to some very nice expensive yachts