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Pros: highlight of the Rock-Barbary Apes, Great Seige Tunnels
Cons: none
Gibraltar, United Kingdom
Saturday, Mar 06, 2004 10:33
There can’t be many tiny islands with as much history as Gibraltar. Jutting out of the southernmost point in Europe it has been one of the columns created by Hercules, the entrance to Hades, the “end of the known world” and in recent history a sore point between Spain and Great Britain. Spain surrendered it 1713 in the War of Spanish Succession, “forever, without any exception or impediment”. The treaty also banned any trade between Spain and Gibraltar and prevented Moors and Jews “to reside or have their dwellings in the said town of Gibraltar”. Nice and progressive.
Despite the tight wording, Spain has been trying to get at least joint sovereignty of Gibraltar ever since ceding it. Most of the island prefers UK sole sovereignty though. Actually “most” might be an understatement - a 1967 referendum on the issue won 12138 votes to 44. A vote to introduce Free Beer Fridays would get less support than that.
There is always a long queue of cars to get into Gibraltar for tax-free petrol and alcohol. After a novel customs crossing at which we asked for a Gibraltar passport stamp, we took a bus ride the 400-odd metres into “town”. Gibraltar is divided into the creatively named “Lower Rock” and “Upper Rock”. Overpriced minibuses take tourists around the upper rock though, being tight, we opted for the steep walk.
The highlight of the Rock would have to be the wild Barbary Apes that roam around much of the upper island. These seem to have a fairly comfortable life made up of napping in the sun, picking things out of each other’s fur and harassing tourists. There are around 240 apes on the island in seven tribes. With little in the way of predators, the numbers are happily growing.
The other interesting site was the Great Seige Tunnels. These were painstakingly dug by British troops during the 1772 Great Seige (by Spain again) in order to get a better field of fire on the Spanish troops. Among other things this vantage point led to the invention of a “downwards-pointing cannon” which doesn’t sound that impressive but was presumably quite a feat given the inherent tendency of cannonballs to roll out of cannons when tilted down. The soldiers’ ingenuity in digging holes and making gravity-defying guns was obviously noted since the regiment went on to form the UK’s Royal Engineers.
After a whirlwind tour of the upper rock we rushed back to a sports bar to catch the Melbourne Grand Prix replay. There we chatted with a local “gibbo” dockworker and ended up going on a tour of the local dry docks. We then grabbed our fill of duty-free alcohol and headed back to the van. |
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