4/19–Gibraltar

Its a blustery morning here on the Rock. Ok, so maybe not blustery exactly.  While the sun is shining through the passing clouds, there’s a wicked cold wind and the temps are quite chilly.  We don’t mind, this is what we were expecting and packed for – so we’re geared up on and ready as we disembark, rolling our eyes at the vast majority of the other passengers in their shorts, sleeveless tops and dresses.  Hardier folk than me!

Today is a restful day for us. We’ve done everything on the Rock – the back side, Europa Point, The Apes, the caves, even the Moorish castle.  So today we are just exploring the town and walking around, which is the one thing we didn’t do last time.  It’s a pretty good trek – about 20 minutes -  from the ship just to Casemate’s square – the entrance to the main shopping street of Gibraltar. Then its a pleasant 15 minute walk through the narrow little pedestrian only Main Street, with it’s balustraded buildings, passing the church and turning at the Royal Engineers statue.to walk down Bomb House lane to access the museum.

Founded in 1930, the Museum is housed in a historic building, used originally as two adjacent Military quarters, including the residence of the Assistant Director of Ordnance Stores.  They were incredibly lucky in choosing these 2 buildings, as they discovered Moorish baths dating from the 14th Century.  The museum is truly a little gem, encompassing many exhibits from the Neolithic era, the Moorish occupations, the Great Siege, The World Wars, and everything in between. Sadly, we can’t take photos, but it was really a fascinating look at Gibraltar history.  Probably the most interesting was a video documentary around the making of life size replicas of the Neanderthal people, whose bones were excavated from Gorham’s caves.  We were spell bound watching two brothers (the Kinnis twins) recreate these amazing life-like statues of ‘Nana and Flint,’ a Neanderthal woman and child recreated from skulls found in 1848 and 1926.  You couldn’t tell they weren’t real. And we were ever so disappointed we couldn’t take pictures of the two recreations.  We really, really, really wanted to break the rules and do it, but, we just couldn’t do it.  So you’ll have to be satisfied with a photo of the entrance ticket that at least shows the woman’s face!

So, after the documentary, we wander through the baths, which are quite interesting, then upstairs through the more modern history with the age of exploration, the Great Siege and the evacuations for the World Wars.  There are weapons displays and stories about evacuees returning home and just tons of history to watch, read and view.  There is a Rock model, where we can pick out all the places we have visited, and a great “artifacts” display that ranges from medieval times to the beginning of multi-media with old TV cameras (circa 1960 or 70) and radio apparatus from the same era.  A garden at the back of the house has animal sculptures (bears?) and excavations of what looks like wells and maybe more baths?  We’re not sure, and unfortunately the museum doesn’t have any brochures or printed materials to accompany the visit.  For us at least, it makes it a bit hard to remember all the fabulous displays, especially without pictures.

Suffice it to say, we spend a good 2+ hours in the museum soaking up history, and thoroughly enjoying ourselves.  After leaving, we continue walking through town, passing through the Southport and Referendum Gates, which represent the end of the walled part of the city.

Our mission is to find Trafalgar Cemetery which is supposed to be as lovely oasis within the city – lots of vegetation and interesting tombstones.  We have our typical Amazing Race moment, when we walk right by the entrance, cross the street, then do a 360 turn to try to figure out where we are.  Honestly, you’d think we’d be better at this after all this time.  Not!

But, we eventually prevail, finding the cemetery right where we crossed the street.  And it is totally worth the walk.  It is a beautiful little corner of luscious green foliage landscaped around a myriad of tombstones.  There is even a map listing all the known graves and placards explaining the Gibraltar and Lord Nelson connection. A lovely little respite from the narrow city streets.

We’ve covered all we wanted to see, so it is time to head back toward the ship and find lunch. We pass by a myriad of British pub style cafes and restaurants, but really, British food isn’t our style, and everywhere we pass is packed with tourists (there are 3 ships in port today, making it even crazier than normal in town). So, we continue on through town, passing back through Casemate square and on to Ocean Village, where we peruse all the menus and end up back at Bruno’s – the restaurant where we lunched on a previous visit.  They have a good assortment of snacks – and as the place fills up – its definitely the local business lunch choice. We end up with Chicken wings and this awesome melted Provolone cheese and chorizo plate.  Very good, and very filling, even though we were only really looking for tapas like snacks.  But nonetheless, its a nice way to spend some time in the afternoon, and allows us to catch up with the world, since its the first free wifi we’ve had since Madeira.

It is a pleasant stroll back to the ship, where we lounge on our balcony and wait for sailaway.  The Rock is perfectly lit and we are in the perfect location to watch as it fades away in the distance.

And just like that, we are onto Malaga, our last port of call.