Gibraltar:
We arrived in the Spanish town of Algeciras, which is at the absolute furthest south point of Spain. This served as home for
about three
days. One of the days, as a lark, we visited the
adjoining territory of Gibraltar--yes, the Rock-of-Gibraltar, Gibraltar.
This tiny (7 square km) UK territory is on a peninsula. Interestingly, to enter Gibraltar you have to cross the runway of
Gibraltar's airport. This means that everyone--pedestrians, cars, motorcycles--all gather on the side of the runway. Then,
when the coast is clear, we are given the go-ahead and a mass exodus of humans begins. It rather feels like you are a villager running
from Godzilla.
It is strange to visit Gibraltar. You don't speak Spanish there--you speak Brit. I had to keep reminding myself that this was
not a Brit-themed amusement park, it was a tiny but
true bit of the UK. The food is
very British; our lunch there was certainly the worst food we had in Europe--the vegetables had been
cooked well beyond death.
We took a gondola to the top of Gibraltar, and saw the Barbary Macaques (tailess monkeys) that live there. You are not
allowed to approach the little thieves, but that does not stop them from jumping onto you and trying to get into your bags!
A closer look at a Macaque.
Before you click the video link, let me set up the clip---the quality is quite bad, but it makes me laugh each time I watch it.
The first clip shows a quick pan from the top of the Rock. The wind noise is nasty, but it is nice to hear the gulls calling to
each other in flight.
The second short clip just shows a little monkey run past Beth. Remember, when one of these critters approach you, it is hard
to figure out what to do. They are feral, and so are entirely unpredictable.
The final clip shows a monkey jumping onto Beth's bum pack, trying to steal stuff out of it. Shortly after, one
jumped on my pack too.
