The Rock

Trip Start Apr 04, 2008
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Trip End Jul 03, 2009


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Flag of Gibraltar  ,
Wednesday, July 30, 2008

We leave Ceuta early as the wind has been strong on previous days and Pete wanted to nip across the Straights of Gibraltar before the wind and tide chop it up. This morning it was still and the Rock of Gibraltar was shrouded in fog. It is only 8 miles across, but it's the 2nd busiest shipping lane in the world, so we need to keep an eye out as we duck between ships. It should be easy to locate the marina as the place is only a couple of square kilometres in size, but breakwalls and airports in the middle of the harbour confuse us until we stumble into the marina. Nice to hear English voices telling us what to do and where to tie up. After a quick lunch at one of the marina cafes Brett, Connie and Hannah head off in search of an internet cafe to try and sort out their return flight dramas. We head off to explore.

The next morning we all head off to discover the Rock of Gibraltar and it's history Brett and Connie Enjoying Dinner
Brett and Connie Enjoying Dinner
 . Fortunately we stumble upon an eager taxi driver with a minivan and he agrees to take all 7 of us on a private tour of the rock. St. Michaels Cave is a magnificent cavern once set up to be used as a war time hospital protected within the fortress. The Summit has spectacular views down sheer cliffs and is covered with old gun emplacements. The Siege Tunnels where the british held off approaching forces by tunnelling inside the rock and creating holes so they could fire their cannons from within. This made them invincible because the enemy could not attack them for they where inside the rock.
There was also a large community of monkeys living in the trees on the rock and we all found these most entertaining.

Although we are enjoying the English speaking town it is frightfully expensive when converting Aussie Dollars to Pounds, so we must keep our visit brief. Perhaps we will return briefly on our way out of the Med.
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