Hello!

In case you missed my Facebook post, I have been away in the sunny south of Spain for 10 days so didn’t blog or really post anything. But I am back!

Before we went to Spain we booked to go to Gibraltar for the day as I’ve always thought it would be a really cool place to visit. The trip cost about £50 per person and included the coach trip, a trip up and around the rock of Gibraltar (seeing the monkeys!), exploring St. Michael’s cave and free time.

It took about 2 hours for us to get to Gibraltar and then to go through customs there, if you ever visit then you must remember to take your passport or an official identity card or you will not be allowed in – as a woman on our coach found when she just took her drivers licence. Then we had a short wait as some planes were due to land and the runway is basically in the middle of the road, I’ve never experienced anything like it but it was so cool.

The trip up the rock was a perfect balance of seeing the sights and learning about the history of Gibraltar. I was so interested to hear about their different methods to save fresh water, for example something so simple as using salt water for their toilets. One of the most amazing stops on this trip was Europa Point, we were lucky with the weather and were able to see Morocco across the water. It felt so close that you could reach out and touch it, it was very surreal.

We were able to go in St Michael’s cave and although it was an incredible and natural cave, the raw beauty of it was substituted for artificial lighting of a rainbow of colours and music. It was still amazing but not quite what I was expecting. It was also around here that we saw some of the Gibraltar apes, the families of Barbary macaques are not only famous but they’re the only ones of their breed to be found on the European continent. Be careful though because they are not scared of humans and can be very mischievous and a little frightening, they also really like Bounty chocolate bars as we discovered. Hold on tight to your valuables! You are advised to not feed or pet the monkeys as they are wild animals, and this is in your best interest.

There is a main shopping high street which we didn’t spend a lot of time on but I did notice a lot of typical British shops. However the most fascinating place we went to was Morrisons. It was so weird, you go from being in mad heat and hearing Spanish everywhere, admittedly with British police officers and pelican crossings to stepping into Morrisons and expecting to bump into every Tom, Dick and Harry. You walk in and at first there’s the booze offers with Carling and Strongbow on special promotion and then there’s Jaffa Cakes, Pot Noodles and Morrison’s own crumpets. An entirely different world. You might not be as fascinated as I was by the Morrisons but it is handy to know in case you need essentials and would like to be able to read the packet.

I enjoyed my brief time in Gibraltar and would definitely recommend going. If I could go back again I would love to take a cable car right to the top and see the views and the nature reserve, I’d like to explore the Moorish Castle and relax on Catalan Bay.

Oh and enjoy a British police van!

Until next time,

Lia x