We had such a fun weekend! We took the early flight from Gatwick to Gibraltar. It is such an interesting place! During WW2 the British dug tunnels throughout the rock and used the excavations to build a runway across the sandy land strip that connects Spain to the rock. The runway goes out to the bay and then ends at the beach. No overshooting the runway!
Another very interesting thing about the airport is that to get to Gibraltar you have to cross the runway! You can walk or drive across. When a plane is coming in the barricades come down on either side blocking the traffic. I copied the picture from Google maps and you can see to the right the runway crossing the yellow road. It is a bit grey, but the rippled grey is water that surrounds the peninsula.
Madison wasn't feeling really well so we took the rest of the day just relaxing in the hotel. Madison got some much needed rest...well, we all did. We were fortunate to find a hotel with two triple rooms. The standard size is a room for two and finding a room for even three can be a huge chore here in Europe. Gibraltar is not any different.
Triple room at Queens hotel in Gibraltar
Tangier, MoroccoWe made it to Africa!!!!
After much difficulty, we took two taxi's to the
port of Tariffa, Spain. We caught the 11:00 fast ferry to Tangier. It was really nice because they offered a package deal that included the ferry ride, 4 hour tour of Tangier and it even included lunch. It was virtually the same price as the cost of the ferry alone...good deal!
We were met by a nice tour guide who spoke excellent English. A driving tour of the city led to the top of the mountain where a band of peddlers and camels were waiting for us. Amazing!
A Euro a ride (about $1.25). It was REALLY fun! Here is a funny video of me for those who think I'm not in my own blog enough... The directions were to hold the loop in the back and the rope in the front. I thought it odd but soon found out why it was necessary
After that Christina was completely enamored with camels and just had to have her own wooden camel. So we bought one. And when you make your first purchase you get your purchase in a functional black plastic bag. We didn't know, however, that when you are walking down the narrow city
streets with a black plastic bag you become prime targets for the peddlers. They got thicker and thicker as the tour progressed. Scott was surprised when he had lots of offers for his Dubrovnik hat in making trades. But he really does like his hat and much to their chagrin wouldn't deal. Finally separated from the group we said "we've lost our guide!" and several of the people who had prevented us from walking forward then eagerly led the way for us back to the group.
It was fascinating seeing the culture and shopping. The lunch was very interesting. I wouldn't say it was my favorite, but there were many different tastes that weren't too bad. At the end of the meal we had peppermint tea. I was shamed into trying it by my kids and surprise...I liked it!
Bryce thought the coke bottles were interesting.
The shops were really also interesting. You never knew what you were going to find when you turned the corner of the narrow streets.
There were fresh meat and vegetables, thread stores and general knick-nacks, mirrors, purses, camels, carved wood work, carpets and alladin lamps. Bryce in particular really enjoyed the bartering and pushy deal-making. Jordan was pretty easy-going about it all and did quite well with his shopping. But by the end of the tour I felt that we needed to join hands and run for the bus.
I don't say this to deter anyone from visiting Morocco because we really had a wonderful visit. In fact, we would like to go back again sometime. They spoke English very well and were friendly. As I told my kids, that the pushy sales pitches are much easier to understand when you realize that they are a third-world country and the people are desperate to make money. Most importantly, I never felt unsafe and the kids had a great visit.
Gibraltar
We had arranged a rock tour on the first day we were here. So Monday morning our guide Albert picked us up. He was fantastic. It was SO worth the money to have the van and driver especially since the entrance fees are paid with the tour.
Fascinating Fact: The rock of Gibraltar is UPSIDE DOWN! Geologists can somehow tell the direction that it grew so now they know that this enormous rock which is laying on a bed of sand is actually upside down.
It also sticks up enough into the sky that the winds blowing into it cause clouds to form. The entire time we were there the skies were sunny- except right after the rock. Once formed, the clouds stayed for awhile. I thought it was fascinating and videoed clouds forming over and over ...but I don't think it would make for very exciting video for everyone to watch :-)
Next was St. Michael's cave which actually is used for concerts! Our family loves exploring caves and these were truly beautiful. They had concert music playing and the acoustics were surprisingly good.
After that we made a quick stop at the Great siege tunnels that were used in the 1800's. With each stop we got higher and higher on the rock.
Then we drove along the spine of the mountain (and it really felt like a spine as you can see on this video)- YIKES!
Then FINALLY we came to the monkeys. Actually, they are Barbary apes and were the highlight of the whole trip. Our guide was able to persuade the monkeys to hop on our heads. Although we were supposed to stand upright for better pictures, it is really hard to stay straight when a monkey jumps on your back and head.
(FYI: these monkey pictures show the cloud formations well. We are on the top of the rock and the skies all around were predominately blue. But behind Scott you can see the clouds forming to white. Behind Jeanne you can see the thickness that remains for awhile across the bay to Spain)
We each got a chance to have a monkey on our back.
This one looks like it wants to shake hands
Even Christina braved the challenge... as long as it was a "liddle monkey"
We were then dropped off at the WW2 Tunnels for a 2.5 hour tour.
The day ended with a mandatory stuffed animal monkey purchase on our way to the airport (well, mandatory in our girls minds). It was a perfect amount of time to see the sights there and I think ranks very high on our favorites list.
For those of you who don't know my (Jeanne's) mom...she is the ultimate in organizing and hospitality. I have always known her to be excited and bubbly when we have come to visit. She would also always have a nice snack buffet ready when we arrived at her home. This time, however, since I was unexpectedly coming in the middle of a seemingly perpetual snowstorm I was concerned that she would fret because she hadn't prepared for me to visit. But organized as ever...I walked in the door and she HAD A CUTE BUFFET TABLE LAID OUT! I was shocked and asked her why she had prepared a snack buffet and she said..."well in case someone decided to stop by...and see it worked!"
One day was absolutely too short but absolutely worth it. I spent two nights and one day there. The next morning it was...snowing again! So I had the same transport service pick me up and take me to the airport. It was a bit scarry with one near collision but we made it. I flew to Minneapolis and met up with my family who had been having their own travel woes. (Northwest airlines had cancelled two of their flights due to weather and weren't going to make it to Grandma's house by Christmas. But after another call to an extremely helpful lady, they worked it out for us all to travel to Indianapolis instead of Chicago. We were on the same plane!)
