Gibraltar

Visited:Gibraltar
Stay: La Linea Spain- secure parking at marina €12/24hr incl service point. N36.155350 W5.354020

We had a huge day in Gibraltar and great weather to boot.
We decided to move to the secure parking area for the next 24 hours as we had had mixed reviews about security at the stadium and it also had a service point that we were in need of. Plus last night there had been a bit of traffic noise, hopefully it's quieter here next to the marina once the aircrafts stop flying in and out! As the runway is just behind us....

Anyway,  we made sure we had our passports and British pounds with us and off we toddled to the border about 10min away. There was no queue and we just managed to get our passports out before we were waved on through! All a bit of a joke really. We then made our way along Winston Churchill Ave and across the runway towards Main Street.

It was 9:30 and the town was still waking up. We got a map and info from the tourist office and made our way to the cable car to go up the famous Rock of Gibraltar. The option we chose in the end was- a £10 6min cable car ride up and then walk back down visiting the sights included in the £10 Nature Park entry ticket.  

As the day started cloudy, once we were at the top we could not see out to the Atlantic but thought we were lucky to get the view of the Gibraltar Harbour whilst we made our way to St . Michael's cave. At the start of the walk from the cable car we were greeted by the Barbary Macaques. They are tail - less monkeys that live on the rock and are kept well feed.  

We visited the cave which had been used as a hospital in WWII   and continued on the road enjoying the view and bits of information along the way. 

We then entered the Great Siege Tunnels excavated during 1779-83 which provided an impressive military defence system which was also used in WWII. 

As we continued on the road down we also stopped at a small display about what life was like for the inhabitants during the siege. More deaths were caused by illness due to poor diet and sanitation than Canon fire.

 Our last stop in the park was the Moorish Castle. 

From here we had many more steps down to reach Main Street where we partook in some much needed refreshments. Once the feet had a rest we took off again in search of bus #2 to take us to Europa Point. We bought an all day ticket for £2.25 and we're glad we hadn't decided to walk there. At the southern point there was a lighthouse built in 1841, a Mosque, Harding's Battery which offered a brief history of Gib and of course amazing views of the Rock,  and now that the clouds had lifted, we could also see Morocco.

 On the way back we stopped to walk down to the 100 ton gun, one of only 2 left in the world. It was built in the late 19th century. It had never been fired in anger and soon became obsolete. 

From here we caught bus #3 back to Casemates Square named after the barracks near here but is now a popular commercial square where the well known Roys fish and chips is found.  As it was close to dinner time we just had to have some washed down with a pint before we exchanged our pounds for euros and headed back across the border to Bluey.

Some interesting give way signs on our walk!would hate to come across one of these!

Good bye Gibraltar!