Blog Update Nerja Caves and “The Rock of Gibraltar”

We have been quite busy in the last week so thought I had better write an update before there is too much info to write. We met Jan a Canadian from our neck of the woods, who had immigrated from Britian and invited her come with us on our trip up to the Nerja caves. We also met Karen from Switzerland and took her hostage with us also, the more the better. The caves were beyond our expectations and are hard to describe so that our readers can appreciate their dimensions. Suffice it to say that every time we came around a corner and got another viewpoint we said Holy Shit. The roof must has been over one hundred feet high and had stalactites coming all the way to the ground and some were 10 feet in diameter! One is called the waterfall because that is what it looks like, another called the organ because it looks like a giant pipe organ and can be played by tapping the huge stalactites of various lengths creating musical tones. After the caves we had a drink on the deck overlooking the blue Mediterranean Sea. Jan had taken another gal hostage during our excursion to add to our little group. Elayne was also from Canada but from the French speaking east. We invited them all to come to our little apartment the next night for a little dinner party of traveling strangers. It is always fun to exchange stories of our travels with people from other parts of the world. We had a great time and plan to stay in touch via face book.

Two days later we headed down the coast to The Rock of Gibraltar. We had been told not to expect to much and that it could all be seen in a day “You just go up on the cable car to the top of the rock, see the monkeys and that’s it.” We were happily surprised to find many secret treasures and lost history of the “Rock”. Leiann found us a deal for staying two days on a boat in the marina. Our state room had two single “narrow” berths with a shared bathroom. For the price it was fine but it did have some issues. First was that if you wanted go number 2 or take shower you had to walk down the dock. Next no food or drinks were allowed in our room. The bars in the marina were booming out loud music and singing till the wee hours. Our heater was on or off and we could not leave it on all night so it was cold. But in the morning waking up on the water in the center of town made it worth it and it was only for two nights. The first day we walked the water front and down to the southern point where the old light house has guided mariners for many years. As we walked we found the old WWII ship graveyards, which are still being used today. Lots of evidence of fortification along the coast. The town is very small and home to some 30,000 people so housing is packed in tight. We walked through two tunnels through the rock to get to the point. At the end of the island is a beautiful mosque, along with old WWII gun emplacements. It was cold and overcast the first afternoon there and was getting dark so we took a bus back to downtown and had dinner of traditional English fish and chips. Gibraltar or Gib (Jib) as the local Gibraltarians call it, is like a little England. English is the official language but many people are bilingual in Spanish. To understand Gibraltar it is necessary to understand a little of it’s history. Beginning in BC times many peoples have visited or tried to make “The Rock” home. Starting with the Neanderthals then indigenous tribal people, the Phoenicians, Romans, Visigoths, Moors, Spanish and finally the English. The rock was used by pirates in the 1500’s with trade ships as all traffic has to come through the straight of only 12 miles across to the African Continent. Whoever controlled the Rock controlled trade in the Med, and it has been heavily fought over for a couple thousand years. The British ended up with it as a war prize after the Spanish war on independence. Spain signed it over to England in a treaty and for the last 300 years the English have defended it as Spain has tried to take it back many times along with France, Italy and Germany. It has become the emblem of British fighting tenacity. It was surprising for us to find out that “The Rock” is to some extent hollow. There are two hundred caves, some of which Neanderthals used in addition to the Brits fortifications digging tunnels running throughout it. There are 36 miles of tunnels on a rock of 2 1/2 squared miles. Two of the “roads” under the rock are 60 feet wide. 1600 soldiers were able to live inside the “Rock” during attacks by the Germans, with a hospital, a power generator, a water distillery, a freezer and multi level cannons facing out from every crevice. It’s no wonder no one has been able to pry it loose from the Brits. Today England would just as soon be rid of it and Spain still wants it back. But the people of Gibraltar have fought against the Spanish for three hundred years and consider themselves an independent state yet somehow still a part of the common wealth of England. They are a very independent lot. We learned not to make the mistake of calling them Spanish, although most of the workers in the town live in Spain, as Gibraltar real estate is very expensive. The monkeys on the top of the rock are called Barbary Apes because they love to steal whatever the can from tourist just like their Barbary Pirate namesake’s did 500 years ago. They are the only remaining primates left in all of Europe. It is said “As long as there are still apes on the rock the British will continue to hold it”. We were also surprised to learn of the existence of a Moorish castle built back in the 1100’s, which we visited. We were amazed exploring “St. Michael’s Cave” with it’s huge caverns, fascinating stalactite forms and deep passage ways that perforate through the rock like Swiss Cheese. All in all we really enjoyed our visit as we love learning of the history and culture of the places we visit. We will heading up to the last strong hold of the Moors (Moroccans) in Spain, Granada, after Christmas before heading across the straights for ancient Tangier in North Africa. Stay tuned for more Chrysalis Adventures!