Monkey Business @ Gibraltar

What’s 2 square miles in size and sits at the tip of Spain, right where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean? Gibraltar, of course! It is this giant monolith that sits high over the town. What makes Gibraltar unique is that it although it forms part of the Iberian Peninsula, it is owned and governed by Great Britain. So as we walked across the border, all we had to do was flash our passports to the border control officers. I had always learned about Gibralter in my Spanish history classes where we learned how the Spanish and British (and others) fought for this small territory. And I don’t blame them. It is not only beautiful, the view from the top of the rock is panoramic and you can see for miles away, even to the tip of Northern Africa.

Our main goal was to climb the rock. Once on the other side of the border we were greeted by a London-style double decker bus and we jumped on immediately to head to the heart of the town. To our surprise, this place was not just owned by Britain, it looked and felt as if you were there too! The streets were lined with typical English chains like Marks and Spencer, or Accessorize (I LOVE that store). Not to mention, there were tons of Irish pubs and lots of places to eat Fish n’ Chips. They even have their own British pounds! It was clear that we certainly were not in Spain anymore. One thing I found quite interesting was the fact that everyone there spoke not only English and Spanish, but this wierd kind of Spanglish, much different from what I've ever heared in the U.S. The words were different and it was just quite intriguing to hear and experience this linguistic fusion that exists as a result of this monolith’s prime peninsular location.

 

Ok, so it was time to go up to the top. We had planned on taking the (ski)lift up and then just walking around because we had all day. Then this guy with a badge who drove a taxi approached us trying to sell us on a tour deal. He said for 20€ we could not only get to the top in a taxi bus, we would be able to gain entry into all the sites and take pictures with the monkeys. Ok, at first we thought it was a scam, but he was legit. And with my negotiating skills, I talked him down to 15€ and we were on our way.

When we first crossed the border all we saw was the giant rock. Someone had mentioned to us that a population of about 7,000 people live there. At first I thought “how in the world do they fit 7,000 people on this rock.” That question was soon answered. Once we got to the top we could see the panoramic view of the entire place. All the people lived on the other side of the rock and you couldn’t see all the homes until you were up high.

Man, what a view! I stood there at the viewpoint in awe trying to give my brain a chance to process the absolute beauty that I was witnessing. Not only can you see lots of the tip of Spain, Africa was quite visible too. Spain meets Africa. Atlantic meets Mediterranean. It was all right there. After the viewpoint we headed to St. Michael’s cave, which is deep and full of stalagmites. There have been a series of speculations as to whether or not the caves lead to some underground passage to Africa, but I have no idea how true that is. There is also a concert hall down there, but I'm not sure how I would feel about sitting through a couple of musical sets while gigantic stalagmites are hanging over my head.

After the caves we went to see the monkeys! Gibraltar is famous for all the monkeys that live wild there in the nature reserve near the top part of the rock. Well, actually, they’re owned by the government, but allowed to run free. We let them to climb on us so we could take pictures, but there are strict rules about not feeding them. Ok, funny thing happened. I had forgotten a wrapper from a chocolate brownie in the front part of my backpack from when we came back from Morocco a few days earlier. One of the monkeys smelled the chocolate on me, then jumped on my back, grabbed the wrapper, ran to a nearby rock to start eating whatever chocolate residue was left. I was so scared. I maintained face, and tried to smile but the entire time he was on my back I was like “get this freakin' monkey off my back!" (Pun intended). It was hilarious.

Finally, we visited the Siege underground exhibit, caves from which the British soldiers would shoot their cannons while at war to protect Gibraltar. I guess it worked.

Gibraltar is surely a hidden treasure and I am glad I took the time to actually visit.