Visiting "The Rock"

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory just northeast of the Strait of Gibraltar. Since the 18th century, Gibraltar has been a symbol of British military strength, and it is commonly known as “the Rock.”  His Majesty's Government of Gibraltar is the democratically elected government of the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The head of state is King Charles III who is represented by the Governor.  

Unfortunately, when we docked in Gibraltar at 1 pm, the Rock, as it is known, was shrouded in cloud.  This is what we were supposed to be able to see but the other photos are what we saw.





Because of the time our ship was docking, I was unable to find any independent tours that worked so I chose a ship shore excursion called City Under Siege.  As it turned out, it wasn’t about WWII which I thought it would be but about a siege of Gibraltar that took place in the 19th century.  However, we did get to go up the gondola to the top of “The Rock” where, of course, we saw oodles of monkeys that Gibraltar is so famous for.  Thankfully, none of them tried to grab anything from us.  Our guide was an older woman named Valerie who looked like Maggie Smith’s twin.  Her husband of something like 52 years named Derrick was our driver.  She seemed to know the names of most of the monkeys we saw.   










When we went back to the van where the monkeys were playing on it.  They certainly are mischievous animals!




We took the gondola back down to the midway stop where we got off and were driven to what is known as “the Siege Tunnels”.  About halfway through the walk in the tunnels and realizing I wasn’t that interested in that history, I went back out and just took some photos including one of the airport runway.  It is unique in that it has cyclists and cars crossing on it and, when a plane is coming in, barriers are lowered to make sure no one is on the runway – much like railway crossings.  I was amazed there have been no accidents!  I wish I had done the WWII tunnels instead but I don’t think that excursion went up the gondola.  




The next stop was going to be a museum, which later I heard was fabulous.  However, I decided to leave the tour and go shopping instead.  I had been told that there were lots of computer stores on Main Street and I was desperate to find a new keyboard.  Unfortunately, the three stores I checked didn’t have one that would work with my Surface Pro.  So, again, I was frustrated that I wouldn’t be able to get anything accomplished in terms of my photos, journal and blog.  However, I did get to see some of the downtown and noted that many of the streets had British names. 









So, that was my very short visit to "The Rock"!.  




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