Gibraltar

The easiest way to travel throughout Spain is to rent a car.  I had never done it because most cars here are manuals and I don't know how to drive one. To be honest, I'm also a little scared to drive here.  For one, the roads are much thinner, specially in tourist areas. There are endless roundabouts which also freaks me out.  Parking is usually an issue as well.  Mom and I rented a decent sized car when she got to Malaga.  After 10 minutes of trying to figure out where the emergency break was, we were off.  Driving around Andalucia was easier than I thought it'd be plus Mom handled the car like a champ.  While we were checking out of our hotel in Malaga, I mentioned something about the apes of Gibraltar to her.  Immediately she was interested in taking an alternative route to go see what this British territory was all about.  Our next hotel was in Seville, which is only three hours away.  With Gibraltar being only an hour or so away, we had time to visit. 

Our route from Malaga to Gibraltar had ocean views the entire way, easily one of the most scenic road trips I've ever been on.  After an hour or so the rock of Gibraltar was in sight!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once we got to the border between Spain and Gibraltar, we simply had to show our passports and move on.  I secretly wanted a stamp on my passport but I guess I have to give up on trying to get them in Europe because Portugal didn't stamp it either.  We weren't really sure how to go about visiting the Natural Reserve but we just went for it.  Before we knew it, we were up on the rock.  We paid 10 euros each plus another 10 to be able to drive up it.  I recommend not driving up to visit the rock unless you are very good driving a stick (good job mom).  It was a little stressful at times driving on such steep and narrow streets.

 

Brief History

"An Anglo-Dutch force captured Gibraltar from Spain in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The territory was subsequently ceded to Britain "in perpetuity" under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. It was an important base for the Royal Navy, today its economy is based largely on tourism, online gaming, financial services, and shipping". -Wikipedia

 

The main attractions of the rock are; O'Hara's Battery, St. Michael's Cave, The Great Siege Tunnels, The Moorish Castle, and other military sites.  Yeah, all of that military history is interesting and what not but why did we really drive to Gibraltar? 

 

To capture awesome pictures like these!

 

This monkey was really enjoying some ham flavored ruffles, he wasn't sharing either

 

Mom got a video recording of him selectively eating his chips

We had amazing weather and even better views of the straight of Gibraltar & Africa

 

The mommy apes were very loving with their babies

 

The apes couldn't have cared less about the tourists

 

Our friends just chilling

 

There are around 230 Apes of Gibraltar. There is a saying that if the apes ever leave, so will the British

 

Me trying to get close to one of them



 

They are actually called Barbary Macaque Monkeys.  There are warning signs not to touch or feed them but I'm sure people do it anyways.  Their behaviour seemed very calm to me, they were more into grooming each other than posing for us. Apparently they spend 20% of their day grooming.  Once we were through laughing at all of the apes, we continued driving around the rock taking pictures.

 

Mom in front of the Moorish Castle

 

It was fun to escape Spain for a couple hours and see such a change in culture & hear English

 

Gibraltar has a population around 30,000
 

Okay, last ape picture I promise :)

 After our visit, we went down to the city square for some fish and chips.  It was a must to eat such a dish on British soil! We ended up meeting really nice people from Tangier (Morocco) who let us have some of their British pounds to keep as souvenirs.  I suggest making a day trip to Gibraltar if you are ever in southern Spain- it's worth the trek up the rock!