In search of the crowds
Trip Start
Dec 16, 2001
1
13
15
Trip End
Ongoing
Malaga-Gibraltar,
Spain
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
I have to admit a degree of laziness on this trip. Pre-booked all the accommodation, easy itenery and delibrately choosing a region reknown for its tourism. A desire to eat Spanish food and sit around, preferably in little cafes at the beach side.
Malaga was to be a bit of a surprise...it's not the tourist magnet that I expected. Dont't get me wrong, there's an old fortress to look around with the obligatory post-card shop at the entrance. But after that it's fairly much a funtional city that even requires the phrase book on occasions. Where was everyone?? Thousands of Brits fly into the airport every month
Costa del Sol
. Was I missing something? I re-read the travel guide...there was a cathedral to see but surely that didn't account for all the missing tourists. There's really not much to do so move on.I'd been tipped that Ronda was a little known gem worth visiting, a hilltop town with sheer cliff drops. It didn't disappont. The town has two main components, separated by a 130m deep gorge an spanned by the Puente Nuevo bridge. In centuries past a number of unfortunates have been tossed from its heights, immortalised by Hemmingway in 'For Whom The Bell Tolls'. The old Moorish part of town is a maze of little alleys but its the hilltop walk that reminds me of that I'm not good with heights! Ronda is also accredited with being the birthplace of bull-fighting.
The mystery of the missing tourists was soon to be solved. The sprawl of development along the coast known as the Costa Del Sol. Its tacky, its bright and don't they just love it. Families, youths out for a laugh and the quietly retired; they all flock here. The high rises extend off along the beach front and the planes continue to arrive one after another from over the ocean. The Spanish culture seems to have been gradually consumed.
Puente Nuevo
Somewhere back in the distant past I decided that Gibraltar was on my to-do-list but to be honest I'm not sure what specifically caused this to occur. Perhaps it was just to have a look for myself at the chunk of rock that Britain and Spain have been arguing over for so long. Whatever the cause I'm glad, the place is fascinating. The English have literally created a little Britain with all the normal high street stores and even those little municipal items like rubbish bins and post boxes have been carefully chosen to be the same as those as you find in any UK city. Tehir only concession is the traffic drives on the 'wrong' side. The Spanish border is just a constant flow of foot and vehicle traffic as people head off to shop on the Spain side. Yet again my nervous demeanor and shifty eyes had me pulled up by border control for questioning.
The rock is a large sheer cliff of granite with the town nestled tightly between it and the sea. During various wars the rock has been carved up like swiss cheese to allow armies to move around under its surface. The attraction of the rock is at it's heights, some vertigo inducing drops and views in all directions. There are miles of tracks to follow along the ridgeline or the easy option of cable car from town to summit.
The summit is home to the barbary apes, the resident wild population of RANDY THEIVIN' TROUBLEMAKERS! If its not tied down they will have it, if it is tied down they will give it a go anyway. It's amazing how quickly the 'oooohs' people make as they look at the little baby ape curled up with its mum can change to 'aaahhhhh!!!' as the said baby leaps towards their head. The apes are particularly partial to plastic bags, information handed down through generations has taught them this means food! The English have some strange connections of animals to major events and this is yet another example. At the tower of London, legend holds that if the Ravens leave the Royal family will fall. Thus they have keepers to ensure such disastrous events don't occur. Likewise, if the barbary apes are no more then Gibraltar will be ceded back to Spain...or so the story goes. They seem to have very high libido so I think its safe for now.
