Gibraltar: A British Overseas Territory

After spending 9 lovely days in Morocco, we took a ferry to Spain. After entering from the southern coast of Spain, in a town call Tarifa, we immediately exited it to go to Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory.

You may have heard of "Rock of Gibraltar" - a common reference used by the Indian cricketer, Navjot S Sidhu (Sumit Mahajan - thanks for sharing this titbit). Rock of Gibraltar is the main tourist attraction here. 

See how from Morocco, we entered Spain, and drove to that tiny dot, Gibraltar, home to just 30,000 people or so.

What is more to Gibraltar, is its strategic location - because of which it was so invaluable to Britain, and it still is. Gibraltar controlled the entrance and exit to the Mediterranean Sea and provided the Navy with that advantage during WWII. And even now, most of the world’s sea trade passes through this tiny strait.

Travel: By Ferry (FRS Ferry Service): From Tangier, Morocco to Tarifa, Spain (1hr)

Travel: By Bus (FRS service): From Tarifa, Spain to Algeciras, Spain (20mins)

Travel: By Car: From Algeciras, Spain - Gibraltar UK (30mins) Accommodation: O’Callaghan Elliott hotel - 1 night

TAT Recommendation: You can choose either intershipping or FES ferry service based on where you want to land in Spain. We were renting a car from Algeciras, Spain, and FES provided a bus service at the end of the ferry ride, that dropped us right at the car rental. So, we chose them over intershipping. Both had comparable pricing, otherwise.

After you have had a heartful of beautiful countryside with cows and windmills, and farm houses and bridges

You can also experience the small town of Algeciras on this bus from FRS

We finally rented a car and were now driving through the more residential neighborhood. I think this was still Spain. You pretty much see the rock throughout the straight drive down to the tip of the peninsula.

We kept getting closer and closer to the Rock and the border crossing.

We were planning to spend some time in Spain later on, and then go to UK, and thanks to our multiple entry UK visa, we could enter Gibraltar now. And thanks to our multiple entry Schengen visa, we could re-enter Spain as well - the following day. So, we were safe to go through this checkpoint.

THERE - Can you see the rock of Gibraltar already? Yes, the mountain behind the checkpoint.

Google map kept saying that our hotel was just around the corner. We were not so sure looking at the size of these roads. We did manage to get to it and luckily for us, amongst those tiny roads, the hotel did have its own car park as well

Do not dare take a wrong turn here.

As usual, we got the kids some food, placed them comfortably in the room, and set off to explore the little town on our own. We were told that all shops may be closed, but ocean village will still be up and happening.

Large, sprawling la plaza that in the daytime is usually bustling with cafes and restaurants, was now empty and quiet. Awesome view of the rock at night, from this grand classmates' square, that dates back to the Moorish period.

La plaza: This was where the public military hangings were performed, up until late 1800s.

Peaceful and quiet streets all to ourselves - we got through the plaza, to the casemates' gates, into the Ocean Village. These Grand Casemate Gates marked the entrance to this fortified city.

Walking past the gates, you see the time tunnel and the fortified walls of Gibraltar. This one here, the west place of arms, used to be a troop assembly point.

Well, we did reach the ocean village where, as claimed, there were restaurants still open, with all different cuisines, and many shaped in the form of large ships.

It was still quite empty considering the number of tourists we saw the following day

Breakfast hall was great with the bay on one side, and rock on the other. Breakfast, however, was absolutely boring! Ashif’s face tells that story

Here, my champs are ready to roll for the long day ahead!

If someone says that Desis, especially Sindhis don’t rule this place, DONOT believe them!! They were everywhere!

After a quick walk through the “now” crowded streets - we head to the cable car starting point. To get to the rock.

Little champion was so well behaved while we waited first to get the ticket, and then for getting into the cable car.

The queue in the ticket counter shed, queue in the trolley waiting area, and finally looking at the queue that now was on the road outside - we were certain - that this was the longest and slowest queue we had ever been in! NOTICE - how I am always in the queue, while the other members find places to sit and chat

TAT Recommendation:

1. Please buy a ticket or a fast pass ahead of time, if you do want to go up in the cable car. The queue can be extremely long and tiring.

2. Take the cable car only on your way up. There are plenty of sites to visit on your way down, and such beautiful sights. Also, the trek down is not hard at all. Just watch out for those apes

Those miniature trolleys were faster than our queue here. My little monkey still finds a way to entertain us.

Up, up, up we go - it was worth the wait. This is the most we have waited for anything. As far as we remember. The longest queue we have stood in. It was quite nice actually - very different from the view we had in Gulmarg or Switzerland! Where the cable car experience was quite identical.

Rock vistas - from the time we entered the city, to the view from our hotel room, then walking towards it, and finally landing on it.

At the rock! The cable car was worth the wait, and so were these sights. Apes were quite aggressive. Climbed on a lady right after she got out of our cable car. Took 3 people to get him off her.

The view from the very top! Apes apes everywhere. Phone handling was risky too. I somehow braved it all

Dia took some nice ones for us here! She missed the rock though. Anyway, we were just glad to be out of our jackets for once.

Family photo at the rock! We didn’t ask - someone volunteered after they saw Dia taking one for the two of us.

Stunning! Absolutely gorgeous colors. You can see the African coastline, where the waters of the Atlantic meet the Mediterranean, Spain’s Costa del Sol and a panoramic view of the city far below, the quays, marinas and bays.

They have a skywalk to which you can go down to, but it is more fun to be on the rocks. Ofourse, the lady bug stole the limelight.

Everyone got to pose in this touristy town of Gibraltar.

After some amazing photo sessions, we begin our journey down

Jackets came off - and Shanaya wanted to climb on Ashif again - Dia complains forgetting how she was there for the first 5 years of her life as well

There - we continue to climb down while taking in some amazing sights of the deep blue water

We take different paths, to get to the town. The trek was easy but still fun. Glad we didn’t take the 2-way cable car

All these are places like the Apes' den, St. Michael's cave, Devil's gap battery and such - we could have entered with our pass, but decided against it - in the interest of time. We had a long drive ahead to get to Granada.

So when the monkey jumped on me, my loving family stepped as far away from me as possible and then it became my task to carry the bag so nobody else gets attacked by the monkeys. Here, Ashif was ready to take a picture, if the monkey decided to jump on me again. They did it once in Bali also. Looks like monkeys are attracted to me

Path became a little more adventurous, and so did we, by trying to trap our daughter into the metal rings

Well - I can understand slowing down to enjoy the butterflies, but how does someone slow down on seeing a snake?

We keep climbing down. Picture on the left is taken to show the height difference between mom and daughter (in my opinion), the one on the right just to show how well the girls were enjoying this easy trek

And after 2 hour of easy climb down from paved roads, to gravel, to steps - we got out very close to our hotel.

Short bathroom break and toy shopping later, we were on our way to Granada!

Gibraltar - thank you for some great weather and some phenomenal views of the city and the sea - from your famous rock!