This morning we started out with breakfast on the roof at our little B&B – it was pre-plated for us, so we just took what we wanted from each other’s plates. I had two hard boiled eggs, grilled cheese sandwich and some water. Chris has ham and cheese sandwich, watermelon and some tea.
After breakfast we headed to the bone church (Capela dos Ossos). This was basically the only thing we came here for – but also it was a great halfway type point for our adventure to Gibraltar. We stopped at a supermarket on the way back to the hotel looking for Gatorade and some good snacks. We failed, so we tried another – failed there too!
So we basically got back to the room, checked out and got in the car for the drive to Gibraltar. We took the longer way thinking we would get a view or feel for this national park, also nope. We just drove back roads that didnt have any national park stuff. It was fine though, we got to see towns and real life in the country side.
On our drive we witnessed some fresh new fires, an argument about right of way between towns people, and saw billboard sized bulls all over the Seville area. Once we got to Seville, it all looked and felt like driving down I-5 in California from Sacramento to LA, including the Grapevine. All of a sudden we were getting closer. After the 3.5 hour drive we had made it, to the line to get into Gibraltar!
So for people who dont know, currently, in order to get into the country you have to cross OVER the runway (the active airport runway). This will be changing at the end of the year as they have put in a tunnel under the end of the runway so that traffic wont be held up because of landing planes AND because the military doenst want to lease the land back to the government for use (ie, allowing you to cross into the country). As it stands right now, this is the 5th most dangerous runway in the world – and that will disappear when the tunnel opens. I am VERY excited I got to drive over the runway!
We found our hotel – its VERY nice, right on the water. It has beach access and a pool. Our room is very nice and the shower was spacious. The room came with robes and slippers on our beds! Once we settled in, Chris was KIND enough to go with me to take the gondola (they call it a cable car) up to St. Michael’s Cave on top of the rock. Well turns out, they are VERY slow to handle the people who want to go up AND you have to walk down or stay near the top and take the round trip.
A taxi driver ended up talking me into taking a van up the rock to the caves, the skydeck and some of the tunnels. It was roughly the same price, but we had AC and didnt have to walk to any of those locations. It also consisted of MONKEY TIME!
First stop was the cave, it was amazing. They do this light show on the stalagmites and stalactites and it brings them to life. Recently they added sound to that show and its just amazing. The acoustics in there are phenomenal. They have chairs and rows set up for concerts that happen in the summer under normal conditions.
After the cave we went to the sky deck. There were some monkeys up there and the kid with us was SO OBNOXIOUS about them, I felt bad for them. They are well versed in human interaction and will do it if they feel like and wont if they are annoyed. Some people had the monkeys jumping on their backs and looking for snacks.
From there we went to the Great Siege Tunnels. These tunnels were hand dug by the Brits in the late 18th century. It was pretty amazing to see. While the tunnels were never used for battle, they did provide lots of help during many battles and wars in the area. The country remains a British zone. The language is English, but almost everyone speaks Spanish since Spain is all of like 3 miles away at the farthest point.
After the tunnels Chris was kind enough again to let me drive to Europa Point – it houses a lighthouse a mosque, Harding’s battery and their only cricket oval (who knew thats what a cricket field was called??). We got our pictures – but unfortunately it was too overcast to see Africa. On a clear day you can see Africa and its only like a 35 minute boat ride of 12 minute flight. Due to covid and normal people being safe – the flights and boat trips have been put on hold.
We headed back to the hotel after that and decided to eat in the hotel for dinner. It was very nice, sitting on the deck with a Mediterranean view and some good food with great company! Chris went with a steak and I got minestrone soup and yellow curry! Some of the best curry I have had!
Normal Travel Girl 
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