Gibraltar

Although I woke a few times in the night, I slept well, waking about 9:20. The noise of the ship can’t have been as bad as I was warned.

It was very misty outside and I was worried that visibility might be bad. Gibraltar was one of the highlights of my trip and I did not want to miss it. When the family emigrated to Australia in 1953, Gibraltar was one of our stops. I can’t remember anything about it. However, in Grade 6 at school we did a project about travelling from England to Australia and that was the time that Gibraltar (and Colombo, Aden and Port Said) came alive to me as names. I stood at the ship’s rails and thought of the adventurous nature of my father, taking his whole family to a new country in search of a better life, and of my mother who travelled with him, managing three children under the age of five.

I had planned to go up the rock on one of the ship’s excursions, but did not book until I arrived at the ship (as I had been given $US500 onboard spend as part of my ticket promotion, and could not use it to book the ticket before leaving). I discovered that the tour was full, with 30 on the wait list! There are not enough small buses in Gibraltar to take everyone up the rock. I therefore teamed up with some others from the Cruise Critic group.

We were ready to leave the ship as soon as the gangway was open. Then we walked ... and walked ... and walked.

First we walked the 2 kms to the cable car, passing a few bold macanques on the way.

There was a queue and half an hour’s wait for the cable car, but when we finally got on we had pride of place, right at the back, overlooking the harbour and the ship. Unfortunately it was a hazy day so our view was not as good as the photographers would have liked.

In the doorway of the gift shop, I ended up in a face-off situation with a macanque. I knew they could be vicious so I stood still. He rushed indoors and I took my chance of getting out. The shop keeper bribed him out with an ice cream bar.

The rock was even more impressive than I had expected.

We started our walk downhill, stopping to see St Michael’s Cave with its incredible stalactites and stalagmites. The formations were wonderful, though lacking in the colour I have seen in other caves. It was incredible to think we were actually inside the Rock at that point.

We somehow missed the Apes’ Den, though we saw enough on the road to suit our interests. We stopped to look at a Moorish fort on the way and admired the vegetation that grew in wayside gardens. One common plant grows huge leaves in my Radley garden but hardly ever flowers. On the Rock it grew wonderful flower spikes but the leaves were sparse and completely withered. It must need more sunshine and less water than it gets in the UK! I was impressed by the hardiness of vegetation, growing wherever it could on the limestone cliffs.

Back in the town the party split up, with three going off shopping while the remaining three of us caught a local bus that took us close to the ship. I was back on the ship in time to sample Oceania’s example of Afternoon Tea – complete with scones/clotted cream and Victoria Sandwich. Afterwards I sat on the balcony with my feet up, ice on my right knee, and a book. It was a well-deserved rest.