Gibraltar and Tarifa

Our hotel provided a free English breakfast, so we were stuffed as we set out for our day on the Rock of Gibraltar. The cable cars weren’t working that day, so we took a taxi type tour instead, which was actually a lot of fun. Our guide gave us lots of information while he drove us around and we had a good time.

Our first stop was the Pillars of Hercules. There is just a big monument on the edge of the rock overlooking Africa, because it is a legend that Gibraltar and Africa used to be connected, until Hercules broke them apart. We got some pretty pictures here, and then continued to the Caves of St. Michael.

It was outside these caves that we saw our first monkeys! The Rock of Gibraltar is the only place in Europe that has wild apes, so it was so cool to see them. They were hardly wild, they came right up to us, and tried to follow us into the cave. :)

After the caves, we drove a little further to an area where they feed the monkeys, and here we were able to hold them and take a few pictures. They were so cute! This was also an area where they shot part of a James Bond film…I can’t remember which one, so I’ll let Pastor Mark or Thomas look into that. :) It was a beautiful area that overlooked the Atlantic Ocean on one side, and the Mediterranean Sea on the other.

We were dropped off at the last stop so we could explore a little longer on our own. First we went through the Great Siege Tunnels. There are over 32 miles of tunnels going through the Rock that were built with a lot of manpower and dynamite. It was really interesting to go through them…Gibraltar is very proud of it’s history, and makes it very easy for tourists to learn all about it. A little farther down the hill, we could also go through a little military base used in the Great Siege, which was also very cool.

We continued walking, and found the entrance to some of the World War II tunnels, which were even more impressive than the Great Siege tunnels. I couldn’t believe the amount and size of tunnels that went through the whole rock.

Our last official stop on the Rock was the Moorish Castle, which was very old and had withstood 10 sieges since 1333…it wasn’t too exciting inside, but it was fun to go through.

It was about time for us to be moving on, so we grabbed our bags, and started walking toward the edge of town. We were stopped close to the border, however, because Gibraltar is the only place in the world that has an airplane runway running through a street. Five times a day (and soon to be 7…) they stop traffic on this street so that planes can land or take off. I’m really glad we happened to be walking across the road at this time, because it was pretty cool to see. They time it very well, and they only needed to stop traffic for a few minutes…we wait for the trains to go by in Iowa longer than they need to wait for the planes!

Anyway, we took a bus back to Algeciras, met up with my friend Lisa, and took a short bus ride to Tarifa. Tarifa is another city on the coast that is VERY windy, so it is very famous for its kite and wind surfing. We ate a picnic on the beach that night, and were able to see many kite and wind surfers. It was a beautiful night at the beach, and we had a very relaxing time.