Gibraltar & La Linea

The first couple of days we stayed on the Spanish side of the boarder as we thought that the marina was cheaper, always looking to save money! Also this made it quite interesting for Abbie when the next day we walked across the Spanish/Gibraltar border which also involves walking across the runway to the airport and it was actually closed for a plane landing. 

Over the next couple of days we pottered around Gibraltar taking advantage of some home comforts including delicious muffins from M&S and I finally managed to book a hair appointment – what a luxury! Thought it would be easier to get my hair done there by someone that spoke English but the hairdresser I went to turned out to be Spanish and spoke little English but did a fantastic job at cheaper than UK prices.

We moved the boat over to a marina (Queensway Quay) in Gibraltar as we thought it would be slightly easier with the site seeing, not sure it would have made too much difference as Mark & Abbie became experts on the buses and knew which one you needed to get on for an destination around Gibraltar!

We did a whole range of tourist activities including getting the cable car to the top of the Rock, visiting the Apes, St Michaels cave and the Great Siege tunnels (Gibraltar has a maze of tunnels that have been used by the British forces since 1700 up t0 1963) and Moorish Castle, this is all done on foot and in the heat it is quite a challenge. I will not go into detail but there is so much history in Gibraltar from the Phoenicians, to the Greeks, to the Moors, Nelson (Battle of Trafalgar) and all the battles to gain control over this strategic piece of land.  Feels quite nice that it is still British with the importance it has had over the years, worth a visit if you have not been but can see it all within a couple of days.

Ape in Gibraltar

St Michaels Cave - Mark & Abbie

Moorish Castle

The Apes are mainly confined to the Rock but we did also come across them a few times at Catalan Bay, they must know that they can get a tasty snack from the bins but it does not seem right when you see them eating McDonalds!

Mmmmm McDonalds

The museum in Gibraltar was also worth a visit we never been before, but had some great photos of how Gib had changed over the years, particularly interesting as it is now very built up with very tall apartment blocks covering any available space to accommodate the population.

We had a trip out to Europa Point which is the furthest point south in Europe and it was windy! But clear skies to fantastic view over to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco.

Atlas Mountains Morocco

Europa Point from the Sea

I also had a lovely girly day with Michelle who drove down to see me again, nice to be able have a good gossip!

Abbie caught her flight home from Gibraltar there were lots of tears but at least the airport was easy and a very reasonable flight price and time.

We had our final day in Gibraltar rushing around mainly provisioning, Mark rushed off to chandlery whilst I suffered yet more pain at the chiropractor, we then both spent well over an hour being overwhelmed by what we could get at Morrisons, who would of though we could have been so happy about Muesli, dried fruit, fresh milk, sweet potatoes………….. the list could go on as shown by the amount we spent!

So much more we could say about Gibraltar but we have now moved on but just to mention it turned out that the marina was a really reasonable price so we were even happier.