Spain Port: Day 2 (Gibraltar)

Today I did something I swore I would never do….I held a monkey….but only partially by choice. We headed out this morning to catch an 11am bus to Algeciras and then caught another bus to La Linea. From here we were able to walk directly across the border into Gibraltar. On our way in we had to walk across the airport runway in order to make it to town. Once in, we stopped at a little Cuban restaurant where Lauren S. and I shared a Castro Platter which consisted of quesadillas, enchiladas, fried yuca, jalapeño poppers, and much more. The four of us (Brit, Lauren S, Lauren T, and I) also shared a Fishbowl Daiquiri. For those who don’t know what that is, it’s a Daiquiri in a glass the size of a fishbowl. On our way out we were all feeling it from the heat of the day, the spice of the food, and the alcohol from the daiquiri. We slowly made our way down to Main Street which is one of the best places for shopping…we were trying to find the cable cars to take us up to the top of the rock. Instead, we met the man who would be our tour guide, Al or Lionel (we are still debating about the name). He took us up to the top of the rock by van where our first stop was the Pillars of Hercules. These are basically a representation of the Rock of Gibraltar and the highest mountain in Morocco which form two pillars, one on each side of the Strait of Gibraltar. We continued on to St. Michael’s Cave where we were able to go inside and take pictures. Then we headed up to the very top of the rock where we first saw the apes. All of the apes who live at this spot on the mountain are apparently familiar with the tour guides and all have names. Once our tour guide stopped the van, several apes jumped onto it. We were all slightly nervous to get out but made our way hesitantly. Once we left the van, Lauren S. was immediately jumped on. It was one of the funniest and scariest moments of the day because we were unsure of what would happen. However, our tour guide assured us we were fine…as long as we didn’t show fear. HA! We were all jumped on at one point or another because we either got too close to the van or the wall. The ape I am seen holding in the photo is Elizabeth. Apparently she really liked me because she did not want to get down. From here we made our way to the Great Siege Tunnel which was used and built during World War II, took some pictures from the top, saw more apes, and headed back down to the bottom for a little tourist shopping and then a walk back out to the border and back into Spain. We then boarded a bus back to Cadiz and headed back to the ship for the night….but not after getting some really great pictures and one especially with our amazing/very informative tour guide!