At one time - Gibraltar was one of the top 3 most strategic locations on the earth. If one owned The Rock - their cannons could control the 12 mile wide Strait of Gibraltar. This narrow passage serves all the ships that were going from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea. Any ship that went through the Suez Canal in Egypt had to pass under the guns off this peninsula.
Manifest Destiny would have this tiny tumor be part of the state of Spain. When England beat Spain and France in the Battle of Trafalgar - off the coast here - they claimed Gibraltar as a colony of the crown. Since 1805 - Britain kept a large fleet here until around 1965 - almost 300 years.
Lots of Spanish people work here - the enclave has 28,000 citizens. They recently voted 98% in favor of not joining Spain. The streets are full of the same stores that we shopped in last night in London.
Our 4 star Irish Hotel gives us a great view of the The Rock from our room. We have a rooftop pool on the 8th floor - they also serve our breakfast up there every morning. Weather is sunny - and temperature is in the 60s. The sky was clear today and we could see Africa across the water.
Gibraltar and another mountain in Africa - make up the Pillars of Hercules that guard the Mediterranean Sea from the outside world.
Tomorrow we are taking a ferry and crossing over to Tangiers - Morocco - Africa. We have a tour arranged to show us some highlights. No Ebola!
The airport in Gibraltar is close enough to our hotel to walk
Only about 8 planes arrive daily - only 3 major commercial carriers
When the runway is not being used - it is used as the highway and sidewalk to town. John Lennon married Yoko Ono here
The airport is on the north end of the 3 mile peninsula. The town is on the south side of the runway
As we walked to our hotel - we looked down the runway
The Rock is limestone - during WWII the Brits dug tunnels and fortifications into it - like Dover
On this picture you can see the airport. We ar looking north here toward Spain
We took a cable car to the top - 1200 feet up. It was 5:30 and we were the last ones up there
This shot shows the Spanish town and the flags of Gibraltar
There are wild monkeys on the top of The Rock
Lulu was afraid because the moneys like to steal cameras - purses - cell phones - etc
This fella was very comfortable following us around
There ar plenty of luxury homes on the west side of The Rock
Lots of Brits come here for vacations
This jeep had a snorkel and could be taken into water to the top of the windshield
It looks like our friends George and Joel came along
The Battle of Trafalgar was fought off the coast here
Many soldiers from the war are buried here
Trafalgar War grave
Our hotel is on Library Street in Gibraltar - a town of 28,000
This cathedral is on Main Street with lots of good shopping nearby
At Heathrow - we saw this Concord SST. In 1979 - I used to take my students to Dulles Airport to watch this plane blast off for London. It flew over and back twice a week then. It went 1500 miles an hour and could cross the Atlantic in 3 hours.
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