The destination today was Gibraltar. We took the slow route following the coastline through several little beach towns. Some are quaint and some drip with money. It was about 100 miles but we covered it in less than 3 hours.
Gibraltar is not part of Spain. It is a colony of Great Britian. The relationship between Spain and the UK on Gibraltar has had its trying times as Spain has always thought it was theirs since they lost it to Britian in 1713. The culture is a mixture of Islamic, as this is where the Moors first gained ground in Spain, Spanish and English. Franco closed it off from 1967 to 1985 and we had the impression that Spain would just as soon it wasn’t there as the roads into Gibraltar were the worst we have seen.
To enter you cross through a border checkpoint, rare in Europe these days, and drive right across the Gibraltar airport airstrip. Then into a town that is chaos. I have never seen so many motor scooters and motorcycles and they all drive like mad men and women. There really are no rules. The reason there is so many is that being in a car you go nowhere. The roads are so narrow and people park everywhere that just getting down a street is a challenge. The whole colony is the rock, that is really a mountain. There is one section where they must have filled in that is flat but mostly it is made up of very steep narrow streets.
For 22 English pounds you can drive up on the mountain. You do that to get terrific views of the sea and surrounding area all the way to Africa. The biggest attraction are the tailless Barbary Apes. I was worried we would not see any but they were everywhere and they act like they own the place. They chase each other up and over cars and buses and show off for the tourists. There are old ones, adults, teenagers and babies.
I have not been to many places that I would never ever like to live but this place is at the top of my list. A nice place to visit….. once.
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