Salt Spring Island, where we live, is a small rocky island in the Pacific Ocean. It measures 74 square miles and has a population of 10,000.
We spent an entire day on a small rocky outcrop in the Atlantic Ocean. It measures 2.5 square miles and has a population of 30,000.
I can’t image how people spend their entire lives living on this famous but tiny rock, so crowded with houses, narrow roads and steep ledges: the rock of Gibraltar,
We researched Gibraltar a little bit before coming here but the online information on places like the official tourism website, Lonely Planet and Tripadvisor, was pretty confusing. I tried the website for the cable car - but nowhere could we find out the exact answers to our simple questions: how much is a one-way ticket? - can we buy a one way ticket that includes the nature reserve? - how long is the way back to walk and is it marked? So we hope to give you that information here, to help you plan your trip to the Rock of Gibraltar.
It is an interesting place with a unique history. This rocky toe that Spain hesitantly dips into the Atlantic Ocean, at the point where the ocean turns into the Mediterranean Sea, really ought to belong to Spain. History, however, claimed it for the British. Reminiscent of Hong Kong, this strategic harbour was claimed by the British in 1713 already. The local Spaniards we talked to felt that it was a good thing. “Without the British here, Gibraltar would just be another rock in the ocean,” they told us, “Now it is an attraction, an oddity that brings us jobs and a good economy.”
We found an AirBnB literally a stone’s throw from the border. It’s just a small bedroom in a crowded apartment building, but it offered a safe parking place inside a garage. So we left our rental car parked inside and walked across the border. It is possible to drive across the border but at rush hour you face long line-ups. Plus, worse, once you get into Gibraltar, there is no place to park. You might as well walk all the way. The first thing you walk across is the almost none-existing border patrol. A bored official waves you across without looking at a passport. Then you walk across…. the airport’s runway! If a plane comes in, you’ll have to wait. But without planes, you just cross the runway under the air traffic control tower. A weird experience.
We’re allergic to organized tours, so we hopped on a city bus and, for 1 euro, rode it across the entire length of the island to Europa Point, the southern most point of the rock. From here you can see the mountains of Morocco. It’s nice to see a Roman Catholic church right next to a mosque. Further on the island we noticed a synagogue next to a Hindu temple. A local assured us that all people, of all races and religions, get along just fine on this rock.
We walked back the appr. 8 KM, along narrow roads with not many sidewalks. Most noticeable was the lack of signage. No signs towards ‘downtown’. We often had to ask which road to take. But we did end up in town by the cable car station.
The signs there still did not answer our questions about options and costs and I overheard several others in line commenting on the confusing prices. In the end, we had no option to buy a one-way ticket and dished out about 60 dollars (or 45 pounds) for 2 tickets to the top. The way back was included even though we wanted to walk. The ticket also included caves, tunnels and a nature reserve, which were not optional but included whether we wanted to see them or not. I find this price a bit “over the top” (no pun intended) for a 6 minute cable car ride. The views, of course, can’t be beat as you look out over southern Spain, the ocean and towards Africa.
Jumping monkeys aiming for backpacks were also included in the price. The nature reserve wasn’t terrible well defined but I hope a portion of our money actually helps to protect plants or birds, somehow. There were absolutely no signs at the top telling us which way to go. We asked a few times before taking a path down.
It was a good hike down until we came across caves. We hadn’t read much about the caves before but since we had paid for it, decided to go in. And we were pleasantly surprised. The caves were well worth the visit. Huge cavernous spaces filled with stalactites and stalagmites, created over thousands of years. Ever changing lights turned the caves into a quiet light show.
From there, a very precarious rocky trail led downwards, along broken railings and no signs. We made it back to town, were we had a well deserved coffee and apple pie at the Trafalgar Pub. It seems a bit out of place to suddenly hear the Queen’s perfect English, see pubs with fish and chips and all prices in pounds (they do take euros but you pay more).
We strolled back through Main Street, past many tax free shops and Irish pubs, red mailboxes and English telephone booths. Back across the runaway and back into Spain.
A fun, interesting day full of contradictions that, somehow, got along. Just like the people that call the Rock of Gibraltar home.