The Rock

jason@willock.org (Jason Willock) — Tue, 15 May 2007 05:52:02 -0400

The trip from Morocco to Gibraltar was fairly uneventful. Boarded a
ferry in Tangier, and headed to Algeciras Spain, then took a short bus ride
to La Linea Spain, and then walked to Gibraltar, it was the first time I
have ever walked into a country. It was probably faster than driving in, as
the customs line on the road was backed up, and I just strolled right in.
It was interesting in that one day I was in 3 countries, and used 4
different currencies. Moroccan Dirham, Euro, Gibraltar Pound, and British
Pound. (Both pounds are worth the same, and both notes are used). Even
though I could still see Morocco from Gibraltar it was a 2 hour time zone
difference, which was a little strange.

I arrived around 7pm on Sunday, and was quite amazed how deserted
the town looked, I checked into my hotel, and then went to go have dinner. I
could only find one place open for dinner. Very strange since it is so close
to Spain and 8pm would be considered early for dinner. I guess it is the
British influence. Gibraltar is quite unique, there are old british
telephone booths, and police wear the funny little hats, but yet all around
the city you hear Spanish spoken, and most of the packaged food comes from
Spain.

Monday I woke up nice and early and went on a quest to see if I
could find some of my lots accessories, since I saw lots of electronic
stores the night before, and I was able to find everything, I am sure things
would have been slightly cheaper in Turkey, but trying to have to deal with
the language barrier would have been trying. Then took a taxi tour up the
rock of Gibraltar, quite a neat place. Lots of small apes, they are
comfortable around humans, jumping on them, and on to the taxi's. They are
pretty clever and quite quick, they will quickly snatch any treats you have
exposed or in your hands, which was fun to watch at the snack bar, where
unsuspecting tourists came outside, and would have there chocolate bars, or
ice cream instantly snatched from there hands. It's interesting watching a
monkey eat a ice cream. Can't be good for them, there are warning sighs all
over the place, but no one seems to pay them any mind. There were also some
interesting caves, and a man made siege tunnel that was built all by hand
and gunpowder in the late 1700's. I could only imagine having to live in the
tunnels for a long period of time.

Had a couple pints at a patio, it was very nice out, I have been
quite lucky with weather so far on this trip, just missing rain and bad
weather for the most part. I was quite unimpressed with most of the service
at the café's and restaurants I visited here, not sure if it was just bad
luck, or if it is a norm, but I sat at one place for 15 minutes, and even
tried to wave down the waitress several times with no luck, so I just went
to the place across the street instead. I went back to the hotel and had a
little nap, and headed out around 7:00 for dinner, and was amazed how
quickly the streets had cleared out and shut down. After walking around for
a little bit I found a nice little patio pub, that had a sign saying
'kitchen opened late' it was 7:40 by now, and I was just in time as the
kitchen was closing soon, I guess 8:00pm is considered late.
Sundays/Mondays are not an overly exciting time to visit Gibraltar. But it
was nice to take it easy and be in a laid back place.

I am now on a plane to London, and then I will connect to Izmir
Turkey, where there have been a few protests lately, peaceful ones, and
hopefully they will stay that way. Fortunately Mike & Denise have offered to
pick me up at the airport, and Denise's parents have offered to put me up
for a night, and then it sounds like we are heading out of Izmir. So I am
excited to see what is in store, and to see some familiar faces.

Jason's Trip Around The World, and now life in Singapore - Gibraltar

The Rock