Determined to reach Gibraltar

Breakfast at the hotel in Benalmadena on the Costa del Sol in Spain wasn’t served until 8:30 a.m., but the tour bus for my trip to Gibraltar was scheduled to pick me up at 8 a.m. So there I stood standing along the coastal highway waiting for the bus, hungry and concerned when it never arrived. Another tour bus arrived for Gibraltar and several English ladies waiting at the stop boarded earlier, but this was not from the company from which I’d purchased my tour. I tried calling the “emergency” number that the company had put on my ticket information, but no one answered. As it turns out, no one staffed the “emergency” number until after business hours began at 9:30 a.m.

When the tour company’s office finally did open, I learned that their bus had tried to pick me up from another hotel. I’d booked this excursion before leaving Great Britain, and the tour company there apparently forwarded the wrong hotel to their Spanish branch.  

The Gibraltar excursion wasn’t offered again during my week stay in Spain, but I really wanted to see the fabled “Rock.” I might never get to Spain again, and this could be my only opportunity. Then, while returning to my hotel I saw the sign of a travel agency. There might be the solution to my quest here so inside I marched. The one way to reach Gibraltar was to rent a car and drive there myself.  

Traveling to Gibraltar

The travel agency arranged for the rental car, and it wasn’t cheap. The car cost me €75 with another €25 to drop the car off at the agency and then pick it up from my hotel. This was far more than the €47 I’d paid for the original bus tour to Gibraltar, and that wasn’t the end of the extra cost. By now the day was so well along that I had to get to Gibraltar as fast as possible if I were to see anything at all. So the best way to go was to take the toll way. With a speed limit of 75 mph and a distance of about the same, I could reach Gibraltar in just over an hour. The tolls coming and going amounted to about another €15. And let’s not forget gas. That came to about another €20 (gas is even more expensive in Europe than it is here on Kaua‘i).  

I arrived at La Linea de la Concepcion, which is the Spanish town just across the border from British held Gibraltar. Because Spain is contesting ownership with Britain, I was advised not to attempt to drive my car into Gibraltar because the Spanish were holding up traffic just to make a point. As it turns out, there were no traffic problems that day, and I could have easily driven into Gibraltar. Had I done so, I could have gotten gas at half the price as in Spain as Gibraltar is a tax free paradise. Most of the price of gas in Europe is simply tax, which is the same here in America.  

There was now the matter of parking the car. The concept of free parking seems to be unknown in Europe. I found a place to park along the road, but it required buying a ticket from a vending machine to put inside my windshield. I deposited €4 but no ticket emerged. The machine wasn’t working, so I finally found garage parking for €6. Thus parking cost me a total of €10.  

€70 well worth it

Gibraltar is no small place when one is on foot, so after walking through customs I engaged a taxi to drive me about for the afternoon at a cost of €70. It was well worth it. My taxi driver was quite knowledgeable and drove me all over the territory and up to the top of the “Rock.”  

As we drove up to the top, I saw my first Barbary ape. These are the only monkeys in Europe, and according to legend, so long as these apes live on the “Rock” the British will hold on to Gibraltar. Some say that the Barbary apes were long indigenous to Gibraltar and date back to a time when these primates roamed other parts of Europe, but more likely they were brought into Gibraltar as pets mere centuries ago.  

The view at the top of the “Rock” was fantastic. The Straits of Gibraltar are less than 10 miles across. I could clearly see Africa on the other side, the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. My taxi driver, a descendent of people who have been living in Gibraltar for centuries, told me of how the British successfully blockaded the Straits preventing Nazi warships from transiting into the Atlantic during World War II.  

It wasn’t defense against the Germans for which the British originally took Gibraltar, but their old enemies the Spanish. The British captured Gibraltar from Spain in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. Nearly 80 years later they successfully held off the Spanish for about three years during the Great Siege.

As a result, Gibraltar remains heavily fortified with as many cannons trained towards Spain as towards the Straits. These cannons are pretty old fashioned so I don’t think the British are anticipating a Spanish siege today other than diplomatic attempts to regain the “Rock.”  

The ‘Rock’

There’s a natural cave inside the “Rock” complete with an amphitheater, which I explored, but even more interesting were all the tunnels that the British built in fortifying this mountain. While no longer in military use today, visitors such as myself can walk down these tunnels, see the old cannons and look out at spectacular views through the gun ports.  

Back down at the bottom, the city beneath the “Rock” is also interesting to explore. Not only is it picturesque, but prices in this duty free port are quite low. The streets team with tourists looking for bargains.  

I enjoyed my day at Gibraltar so much that two days later I returned, this time on an excursion that picked me up at the right hotel. We didn’t go to Gibraltar itself but just beyond to Tarifa, which is actually closer to Africa than Gibraltar. Here we boarded a hydrofoil for the hour trip south to Tangiers in Morocco.   

The very first thing we did upon arrival in Morocco was the traditional camel ride. Actually, the camel doesn’t go anywhere. It kneels down, you get on it, and then it rises. Someone snaps your picture, the camel descends and it is over.  

Next we watched a snake charmer and a cobra. He invited tourists to pose with a snake, but I was bemused to note that he had carefully deposited the cobra into a box and then took a harmless snake out for the pictures. So it was all perfectly safe.

Tangiers is a cosmopolitan city with Spanish, French, British and even American enclaves. Most interesting though is the old market place. Here we had a find lunch of traditional Moroccan fare, a rice pilaf dish and other tasty food all accompanied by several men playing musical instruments while a belly dancer whirled.  

After lunch we shopped in the bazaar. We watched bread being baked in traditional wood fired oven, saw the brass market and visited a perfumery. I couldn’t resist the carpet market though. Here were hand knotted woolen carpets colored with all natural dyes. Ever since I was stationed in the Persian Gulf long ago and had seen such carpets in the souk (market) in Karachi, Pakistan I had wanted one.

 Back then as a young sailor I could ill afford such an expense, but now I treated myself to one. I picked out a beautiful six-by-eight foot carpet for €1650 (prices in Morocco are frequently denominated in Euros even though that is not their currency), which included U.S. duty and shipping. It took a mere 10 days to ship it to Hawai‘i, even getting back before I did.  

Late that afternoon I boarded the hydrofoil and returned to Spain, and two days later I was back in Britain. I had seen Gibraltar and even crossed the Straits. What was originally be a €47trip to see the Rock of Gibraltar had ballooned into a couple thousand dollars of travel and shopping expenses, but I came away with a wealth of experience — and a very nice rug.