Gibraltar

Probably the most famous “rock” in the world, the Rock of Gibraltar rises abruptly from the sea on the east side, and a bit more gradually on the west. Its maximum elevation is 1396 feet and honeycombed with caves. The major tourist things to see are the Moorish Castle, the Barbary Apes, St. Michael’s Gallery, and the Siege Tunnels.

We felt the ships tours were a bit expensive, and decided to take our chances with one of the “taxi tours” found right outside the cruise terminal. The cheapest ships tour was $61 per person, and none of the ships tours went to all of the major sites. We paid 35 euro’s (or $52.50 per person at the rate I bought euro’s for) for a 3 hour tour that went to all of the major sites including the lighthouse, and on the way back they dropped us off at the botanical gardens so that we could see them and then stroll back towards the ship on the pedestrian mall area.

Personally, we felt the tour we got was much better than any the ship had offered, and was cheaper and more personal as there were only eight of us instead of 20-30 people. Our guide Peter was very knowledgeable and was very good about pointing out various things along the way.

We had originally thought we would walk into “town” and then to the cable car and take that up to the top of the mountain. It costs 22.5 euro’s per person which includes admission to the apes den, the Moorish Castle, and the St Michaels Gallery. The bad news is once you are at the top of the rock and get off the cable car, you have to walk. The other bad news is nothing is close to the other sites, and it is quite hilly. The taxi tour we went with took us right up to the entrance of each area and dropped us off. Even driving we were at the top of the rock for about 1.5 hours. I would think that to try and walk it would take a minimum of 4 hours if not longer. Also the walk into town will take you a good 30 minutes or more, then you have to walk through town to the South side to get the cable car which is about a 20-30 minute walk depending on how much window shopping you do.

The weather was cool, around 65 degrees and we did get a light shower around 2pm but it didn’t last long. Tomorrow we will be in Cartagena Spain and the weather right now is predicted to be around 59 degrees and partly cloudy.

And yes, you can get very close to the apes. They typically pretty much ignore you. We got some great pictures of them and the one attached to this blog we felt was one of the better ones.

Until tomorrow, cheers!