So . . . we continue at sea, bypassing A Coruna and visiting Lisbon and Porto (oops! I forgot my sketches of Lisbon!) before heading east into the Strait of Gibraltar and heading into the Mediterranean. If I recall my geography and geology, Africa and Europe were once connected here, which is why the famous monkeys of the Rock of Gibraltar exist today. And the Rock of Gibraltar, an English outpost on the tip of southern Spain, dominates the scenery as you sail through. Cruise ships land here, and while we did not, let us pretend we did (since this whole Not Taken Vacation is imaginary) to climb the rock and see the sites.
From the sea, the Rock of Gibraltar rises up, formidable, stately. At times it is shrouded in clouds, other times sharp and crisp against the sky, or softened by moist sea air. Beneath, at the water’s edge, is where people live. Apartments and houses are expensive. Spaniards cross the border daily to work for higher wages but not getting the social benefits such as pensions (my understanding) that they would pay into if working in Spain. English and Spanish are spoken here, and while English is the dominant language, Spanish is not a bad thing to know.
There is a lot of history and a lot to see in Gibraltar. I chose to climb upward to see what I could see. Africa to the south. Coastlines to the east, mountains to the north. And monkeys! Really, Barbary Macaques, which are protected and the unofficial national animal of Gibraltar. They are friendly – but they do bite!
I sat here awhile, visiting with and ignoring the macaques, watching the world below and above, basking in the sun, and thinking up a song of “basking with macaques” which will soon make it to the Top 10 list of rock-n-roll songs.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 