Travelling - post 2

Hello!

Today has been a very exciting day! I went to Gibraltar by bus at 11 o’ clock, and didn’t get back until the clock had passed 11 again. There was so much to see and experience there. As you may know, Gibraltar is a British Oversea Territory. That means they’re owned by British superiority, but without being a part of the kingdom of Britain.

Red English telephone box. This was the
first thing I saw after passing the border

When I first arrived Gibraltar, I got myself quite a laugh! After the passport control, in the middle of all the heat, stood a real classic; a red English telephone box! It was quite stunning to see an English telephone box placed as south in Spain as you get. But I couldn’t stay there all day taking photos of it, so I passed the runway of Gibraltar who’s actually the boarder too. After I’d walked it, they closed it for both cars and people, and a plane took off. Fascinating, I think, using a runway as a border. I discovered after walking some minutes in Gibraltar’s streets, that all of the cars here had yellow license plates like in Britain. I even saw a red, London double-decker transporting tourists. All this, in addition to the telephone box, almost made me feel I was in London. It’s significant that Britain has affected the area a lot. Only around 29 000 people lives there, but as well as every one of them speaks English. That’s a huge difference from outside Gibraltar in Spain. To top everything, I must tell you that they even use pounds in Gibraltar.

Monkey chills at The Rocks on Gibraltar

I had already seen a lot from Gibraltar, but I joined a guided trip to see some more and maybe learn some history. Our guide took us with a cableway to the top of “The Rocks”, which’s a giant cliff/mountain with view over whole Gibraltar. On top of The Rocks, there are monkeys living free. It’s actually the only place in Europe where there are living monkeys in free condition. It was fun to see the monkeys because they hang over the railings without bothering there was 400 meters straight down. The guide told us we could see three lands at the same time (Spain, Gibraltar (England) and Morocco) while we also stood in Europe looking at Africa. For many years ago, The Rocks were like a fortress that fought unauthorized back home. In the red and white national flag of Gibraltar who was adopted 1982, we can see a castle representing the fortress and a key below the castle who symbolizes the fortress significance, according to the guide.

National flag of Gibraltar

After the guided tour I found a lovely charming restaurant with view over the harbor. The food there was great and the atmosphere was calm and sedative. I really enjoyed Gibraltar and I thought it was really fun to experience an English-speaking place like this. It was also interesting to see all the comparisons to Britain.

Bye bye!