As we drove into La Linea de Concepción, there it was – The Rock! Not knowing too much about Gibraltar apart from the fact that it is British and has apes, the next day would be a crash course in Gibraltar’s history. Plus lots of walking over its rugged landscape.
We were constantly surprised by the view from our hotel room, saying ‘ Wow’ or ‘Look at that!’ When we had looked down for a bit. The Ohtel Campo de Gibraltar was the closest to the Gibraltar border, was very reasonably priced and had an excellent breakfast included. The one disadvantage was the loud music played each night under our window. They offered us a room on the other side but as we were only staying two nights, we decided the fab view was worth suffering a bit of noise pollution. We used earplugs and the music finished at midnight on the dot.
We had pre-booked the Cable Car with all the extras (Nature Reserve, St Michael ‘s Cave, Siege Tunnels etc) in Gibraltar. This meant that after walking across the border and showing our passports (they had a a longer look at ours, being Australian, but it was an easy process), we were able to catch the free shuttle bus to the cable car station to start our busy day. The helpful young woman at the Tourist Info Office right at the border pointed us in the right direction in her sing-song Gib accent.
There was no queue at the Cable Car station so we were off. In six minutes we were at the Viewpoint. Looked around then headed to the Skywalk. We were surprised to see taxi tours squeezing along these narrow high roads.
St Michael’s Cave was impressive enough without needing all the coloured lights. They sometimes hold concerts in there which would be amazing. Interestingly, the caves were used as a hospital in WW2.
Next stop was the Apes’ Den, sadly lacking in apes (which actually are not really apes but monkeys) but we had seen plenty at the cable car station. Walked past a few of the Batteries as we walked to Princess Caroline’s Battery. A great view here and a tiny Military Heritage Centre. Then onwards and upwards to The Great Siege Tunnels.
The tunnels were incredible. A huge network of them, used not only in The Great Siege (4 years long,from 1779-83) but in many sieges before that. Spain and France were keen to capture Gibraltar from the British. In World War 2, the tunnels were put to use again, housing equipment and soldiers. It was great going into the tunnels, especially further in where not many people ventured. There was a large open area called St George’s Hall, with interesting displays.
We wandered through the City Under Siege exhibit, with simple models showing life during the early sieges. Those people were tough! We gave the WW2 tunnels a miss as we were getting hungry and they were not included. Had a quick look at the Moorish Castle on the way down. Our Cable Car ticket was return but it would have been a long walk back up to go down!
The Moorish Castle was only one tower but a nice viewpoint. Down more steps and found the Main Street. Popped into the Gibraltar Arms about 3 pm where we had a grumpy waitress but good, if belated lunch. Sat there for a while then had a look at the Cathedrals, the Governor’s House and the Law Centre. There were lots of British shops which seemed a bit incongruous after being in Spain for a couple of weeks. We walked back uphill past the Trafalgar Cemetery and caught the last bus back to the border, across the airport runway again.
Having clocked up well over 20000 steps for the day, we felt we deserved a delicious dinner. We found it at Patagonica in La Linea. Delicious food and very reasonable prices. La Linea surprised us as a town. We had two really good meals, (the other one at Reveulo Taberna Urbana the night before) and enjoyed sitting outside in a couple of nice squares.
After our quick visit, we were off to Cadiz for a longer stay.