As usual, the next day after travel day, we slept in. All too exhausted to get moving. It’s 935am and I am awake.
Good news! Michael has stopped puking and squirting. Yay. He won’t have to stay in the room while we go to Gibraltar. Next test, let’s see if he can eat.
Emily has gone down to the front desk to straighten out our reservation. The initial stay was one day and we extended it to two once we had arrived yesterday. But, our desk clerk, managed to get us an extra day but told us to reconfirm in the morning. The Spaniards are slow so I don’t expect her back for a half hour. Gives me time to collect laundry.
I have to process laundry every few days. In hostels there is usually a washer. We can wash and dry relatively cheaply. But we have had a long string of hotel days and have to use the laundry service. I paid $265 for laundry in Barcelona. Ouch. Same amount of laundry in Fes, only 30$. Today in La Linea, 58$. Might be cheaper to toss the clothes and get new.
Today’s plan: go to Gibraltar. That’s it. We are figuring it out as we go. Works well for Em and I but the other two like written plans. What fun is that?
We left our hotel this morning before noon. Not by much. We walked in the direction of the Rock. The flow of people on the sidewalk grew as we got closer. I saw a sign, Gibraltar with an arrow pointing the direction we were walking. A good sign. We finally came upon passport control, which was not very controlling. All I had to do was show my passport and I was in.
There was a tour desk right outside customs. We stopped and inquired within. Only €25 each for a taxi tour of all things Gibraltar. We decided to go to lunch first because no one had breakfast yet. This started the usual food argument about where to go. Had to walk a mile further but managed to find something. It was nothing special but far better than last nights dinner. Prices on the Rock are high. Very high.
After lunch, back to the tour desk to sign up for a three hour tour. All I really want to do is go up the Rock and see the monkeys. We were on our way within 10 minutes. We got a quick tour of the town, it’s small, but had a few historical items. Then up the hill on very thin roads to see the sights and meet the monkeys.
Our first spot was just a place with a good view. Nothing good. Next can the caves. Turns out there are several caves with stalagmites and tites that are large and spectacular. The one we went in is used as a music hall for the symphony. As caves go it was still kinda sterile. Next stop we saw monkeys. Lots of em. The rule is you can’t touch them of feed them. They can touch you. We got lots of pictures and the view from this far up is very good. We were so far up we could see both sides of the Rock. We drove up to the last stop which is access to the tunnel dug into the Rock in the 1800s. We were able to have all the full length of the tunnel and see where the Brits had put cannon to shoot at the Spaniards. Interesting history lesson. And, there were more monkeys there too. We like monkeys.
We drove back down an alternate route since there are so many taxis coming during the day and the road is not wide enough for two. Nothing much to see on the way down, we had seen the whole of Gibraltar from the top already. Sadly, the drop off is in the town square which is over a mile from the border. Oh well, more walking. That’s ok, right, Ed? We asked our way outta Gib town. Plus the other mile to the hotel.
We had planned on a relaxing day, that’s a no go, but when we returned we headed to the pool and hotel bar to do just that: relax. Couple drinks, sit around, we relaxed. It was nice. Later in the evening we went out to dinner.
We kinda lowered our dinner sights front he usual. We walked to the local Supermercado and bought some wine. 2€ a bottle then walked back to a street vendor we had seen last night and bought patatas and asadas. Which really are just baked potatoes with lots of cool toppings. More like twice baked potatoes. We took all back to the hotel room and had dinner. Cheapest dinner so far.
We are not going out tonight. We got a plane in the am to Madrid. So up kinda early and off. Good nights sleep ahead.