Gibraltar "Rocks"

After the end of the October 2012 IECA conference in Granada, I took an early morning train southwest to the city of Algeciras located near the southern tip of Spain. I wasn’t particularly drawn to Algeciras itself but used it as a base to get to nearby destinations of Gibraltar and Tangier, Morocco. After stashing most of my stuff at the small hotel I’d reserved in Algeciras, I walked to the bus station where I found a local to La Línea which deposited me about ¼ mile from the Gibraltar border. From there, I took a London-style double decker bus past Gibraltar’s airport to the main part of town.

It was a short bus ride around Algeciras Bay to Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a very small overseas territory of the United Kingdom located on a peninsula along the southern coast of Spain. Its 30,000 residents and numerous tourists are squeezed into an area of 2.65 square miles much of which is too steep for habitation and/or covered by a nature reserve. The British have occupied the territory ever since capturing it during the War of the Spanish Succession in 1704. Since then, it has been an important base for the Royal Navy. The Spanish resent what they consider British occupation of Spanish territory. However, in 1967 and 2002 referendums, the local residents voted overwhelming to reject Spanish sovereignty (or even shared sovereignty). So, the little territory remains a largely self-governing piece of the British Commonwealth.

Gibraltar is very British!

I found the town to have a decidedly English feel and full of what appeared and sounded to be British tourists. Not having much of an interest in spending my time shopping or pub crawling, I took another bus to Europa Point, the southern tip of Gibraltar. The point features an impressive lighthouse, views of numerous ships, and a good vantage point from which to admire the spine of the Rock of Gibraltar which rises precipitously to the north.

Left:  Europa Point lighthouse.  Right: Rock of Gibraltar from Europa Point (inset:  a 1942 stamp from my collection showing Europa Point and “The Rock”)



The big attraction of Gibraltar is, of course, “The Rock” which towers almost 1400 feet above the adjacent Mediterranean Sea. Ira Gershwin, who wrote the lyrics to his brother George’s song, “Our Love is Here to Stay”, asserted that:

In time the Rockies may crumble,

Gibraltar may tumble,

There're only made of clay,

But our love is here to stay.

Well, the Rock of Gibraltar is gradually tumbling through erosion though I suspect it will still be around for many millions of years. However, Ira got the rock’s composition wrong. It’s not made of clay but Jurassic-age limestone (nearly 200 million years old) which was strongly tilted a few million years ago.(Admittedly,“limestone” does not rhyme with “stay”.) Limestone is composed of calcium carbonate which is soluble in water and, as a result, the rock contains more than 100 caves some of which are below sea level.

"Gibraltar" by Charles Pears for the Empire Marketing Board (circa 1930) from The National Archives UK. This view is from the northwest.

I could have hiked a trail to the top of the rock, but it was a hot early October day and time was short. Thus, I took the bus back north from Europa Point to the bottom of the cable car which, for £9.75, delivers one to an overlook pavilion and restaurant at the top of the rock and back down again.

View from the cable car of residences below the Rock of Gibraltar. Frequent rock falls from the cliffs are a hazard to these residents.  A month after my visit, a major rock fall damaged the Gibraltar Motorcycle Club’s clubhouse (http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=26589).

The views from the top are stunning and on a clear day you can see Morocco to the south across the Straits of Gibraltar. Unfortunately, it was sunny but hazy that afternoon so Africa was only a blur on the horizon but the views along the crest of the rock, the steep slopes to the west, and the cliffs to the east were well worth my time. 
 

Crest of the Rock of Gibraltar looking north toward Spain.

The upper slopes and summit contain a nature reserve which provides home to about 250 Barbary macaques, the only wild primates in Europe. The rock also includes a network of deteriorating tunnels, gun emplacements, observation posts, and other evidence of its strategic importance in the British defense of the Straits of Gibraltar from the Napoleonic Wars to World War II.

Coming next: Across the Straits to Africa!

Despite warning signs, I saw several stupid tourists feeding and handling Barbary macaques.

A thick stone wall (built by the Moors and later strengthened by the Spanish and British) protects the town of Gibraltar from outside invaders except for tourists whose Pounds, Euros, Dollars, etc. are welcomed.

View northwest from Gibraltar’s famous rock toward the town of Gibraltar, its harbour, the Bay of Algeciras, and the Spanish coast (mostly lost in the haze).

 



View of the Rock’s sheer eastern cliffs from the airport.  A 1954 stamp from my collection shows the same view nearly 60 years earlier.