We got up early. 8:30 is barely 21 minutes after sunrise. Even the sun in Spain knows that nothing good happens before 8:00 and, on vacation, I would add that nothing good happens before noon. We could have gotten up later but then it would have meant sprinting through our morning and who wants to do that on vacation?! So, we took our time, had our breakfast with decent coffee and headed to đGibraltar.
We followed the multiple recommendations weâve read not to do the car cue to cross the border into the UK but, instead, park just outside the border and cross on foot. That meant however that we would be taking our passport for a walk.
As you might have understood, Gibraltar is part of the UK and the UK isnât part of the the free transit agreement within European Union (a.k.a. The Schengen Area). Not that the UK was ever a member and having left the EU, Gibraltar is unlikely to get rid of that hurdle any time soon. For us Canadian it means first going through getting our exit stamp from Spain at a first border crossing, then walk to the next building to get entry into the UK. Better hope our country doesnât dissolve while weâre between the two buildings (and countries) as the concrete sidewalk has nothing to offer compared to Terminal 1 of Charles de Gaulle Airport. Unsurprisingly, Canada didnât dissolve. Our passports were given their cursory glance and we were waived through as the harmless Canadians that we are.
Before making plans to visit Gibraltar, we did our due diligence. All reviews fell in one of two categories: âwaste of time and moneyâ or âbest thing everâ. There wasnât any middle ground. We werenât sure what to expect.
The Gibraltar rock is a nature reserve now. Not many nature reserves have so much military history, cannons, tunnels to hold up against sieges and bombardments. Itâs probably why they feed the monkeys so well: if they decided we werenât that useful they have all the infrastructure to wage war on us. Probably where the apes from planet of the apes are really from?
We grabbed the cable car up the rock. From the entrance to the cable car to getting off the cable car we were told in many different ways not to offer food to the monkeys. Not to pet the monkeys, to leave the moneys alone and not to piss them off. A monkey bite will get you a visit at the emergency room. Everyone is told this. Yet as soon as we get off we start seeing people offering food and trash to monkeys, trying to high-five them and selfie with them. I facepalmed internally most of the time. With the monkeysâ omnipresence, the fact that they are comfortable with having humans at a reasonable distance is probably one of the major saving grace for the humans. This made it super fascinating to be able to observe them without any barrier.
From the cable car we went ahead and visited the skywalk (three panes of very strong glass barely overlooking the edge of the cliff) and Douglas lookout (slightly higher than the skywalk and somewhat better too). Both sites are fairly close and at the same level as the cable car. We wanted to do the Mediterranean Steps and get more of the superb views from that high but with more than 5km to walk down the rock, we didnât want to risk setting back all the great progress Karineâs been making with her injured leg. With that in mind we started making our way down.
About half way down the rock from the car we stopped by the Windsor Suspension Bridge. It turned out to be a bridge to nowhere. We were surprised to see that thereâs a path that goes along the cliff, at the same level as the bridge, so you can take a picture of it. Opened in 2016, it was described as a 71-meter long thrill seeker attraction. Itâs a tad oversold but anybody can imagine the meeting where they have to come up with a reason to visit that bridge and somebody saying: âwhen the bridge sways itâs kinda of a thrillâ and it became a thrill seekers attraction. Sadly the wind was calm so neither Karine or I felt even the fraction of a drop of adrenaline. It did make for a nice picture however.
Conveniently located next to the bridge, is the Apeâs den. Its slogan should be: âif you havenât annoyed the apes already, why not come and do it in their home?â Really itâs a structured made for the apes to inhabit. Itâs well made, and, luckily for the apes, mostly inaccessible to humans. Some of the apes do hang around it so it makes for a good picture taking spot.
By that point weâre a good way down and there was still some ways to go before getting first to the Great Siege Tunnels glorifying that time the Spanish tried to get Gibraltar back from the British, thinking theyâre too weak after losing their war with their American colony. While interesting to see tunnels that were dug in hard rock, the omnipresent military music just got to us and we turned back after the first sign saying thereâs about 30 minutes more of walking in tunnels to military music.
Last stop were the Second World War tunnels. Dug in part by our own Canadian Military Engineers. Turns out mining in the UK is done mostly in soft rock and us Canadians are more experienced with hard rock (I guess that explains Rush and Nickelback). Outside of the apes it was the most interesting exhibit weâve done. Thereâs just enough context to make you appreciate what it would have been like to live inside Gibraltar during the war.
In the end, we felt they should have named the rock: Monkey park, kept it to that and the tunnel and everybody would have been happier. Nevertheless, we can now say we went to Gibraltar, saw some monkeys, visited the inside of the rock and donât need to come back. Like Pisa, you only need to go there once.