Gibraltar – As Strong as The Rock of Gibraltar

Gibraltar is only 1.5 hours drive from the Marbella Beach Club. We recognized the rock as it came into view from all of the pictures we have seen of it in the past. We drove into the city even though the tour books recommend against it because of the long waits at the border crossing. We were entering the UK and our passports had to be checked. Luckily we crossed over within a few minutes.

The entrance into Gibraltar requires crossing over the airport runway. I am not sure what they do when planes have to land???

We drove to the top of the Rock and avoided all of the tourists waiting to take the cable car up to the top. St. Michael’s cave is the first sight we saw. I have been in caves before but this was by far the largest and most cavernous. It even had rows of seating and a platform so that concerts could be held within the cave! (This cave had been prepared as an emergency military hospital during World War II but had never been used as such.) It is fascinating to see the incredible formations of stalagmites and stalactites created by rainwater seeping through the limestone rock.

While waiting to enter the cave we were greeting by the monkeys that Gibraltar is famous for. These tail-less apes appear totally tame as they walk and jump amongst the tourists. When we were driving away, one hopped onto the passenger door next to me and my window was open! I was afraid he was going to climb in with us but luckily he stayed on the roof. There are about 200 monkeys on the island but we only saw about 20 of them.
Gibraltar is 3 miles wide by 3 miles long and nearly 28,000 Gibraltarians live on the island, virtually on top of each other. The streets are very narrow and winding as they snake up and down the Rock with every square inch occupied with a multi-level dwelling.

I would recommend this day trip.

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