Day 4 – To The Rock

Another overcast day but not too cold. Never let weather stand in the way of a vacation though! Gibraltar is only about 40km away from Estepona and the road is either the A7 or a toll road. We unexpectedly found ourselves on the toll road which took us through some magnificent tunnels. The toll was rather inexpensive, about 1.5 euros. As you drive, you see this magnificent rock rising up from flat ground. It truly is an amazing sight to see massive rock nearly surrounded by the sea.

The signs are clear and we drove up to the entry point in La Linea, then circled back to park along the main street. This is one of the benefits of travel off season – a space just about 3 blocks from the crossover. We decided to take a tour, and got in the minibus with Peter. The streets are incredibly narrow and the climb is steep. The views are breathtaking, and as there was a force 9 gale in the straits, we hoped our breath would NOT be taken away. (Thinking of Mrs. Bale in As Time Goes By) The south side of the Rock is calm and warm, or at least not windy on our visit. That’s Africa in the background

Our first visit was the St. Michael’s Cave, and having seen Luray and Carlsbad, we both were familiar with cave formation. I’m sure this is a welcome visit on a Spanish summer day.

There is an apartment development on the top of Gibraltar – obviously money talks everywhere, for it’s hard to imagine planning permission and zoning regulations not prohibiting such development. Curving around the rock, the temperature and winds changed. Brisk is putting it mildly. However the views just cried out for photos, and our Flickr account is filled with various snaps of the views from on high. And yes, the apes were present.

Next was the Siege Tunnel,

and at the end of it we felt that Force 9 wind thru one of the windows.

Up high

Finally back to sea level, we had the rest of our 4 hrs of parking to walk thru the streets of downtown Gibraltar. Lunch was in a little pub, where we talked to our neighbors – 3 from Leeds, and one from Huddersfield. The world is small…

Then after DH found something in Bell Books and it was time to turn around and head off The Rock.

Crossing the runway on the walk back to La Linea, I wished we had taken the 1 euro Double Decker. The WIND!!! But we made it across, with only a bad hair afternoon damage.

A stop for a café con leche n the drive back to Playa Andaluza and a cocktail hour with our Marriott hosts.

More photos can be seen on the Flickr page.