A chunk of British rock called Gibraltar...

Quote of the day: “A lot of them don’t have anyone to look after them. They use the cruise lines to look after them. They can’t get insurance and they can’t fly. I don’t want to be on a ship with people like that.”

Gibraltar is “Little Britain” in the Med. in more ways than one! English pubs, fish and chips, English police helmets, and cannons galore – oh, and the worst coffee on this trip to date… plus a number of eccentric ex-pats strutting their stuff… at least that is until the tourists descend on the place.

Gibraltar is a strategic peninsula jutting off the south of Spain, apparently important as it has the potential to control entry and exit into the Mediterranean. England captured the Rock in 1704 (all 3 square miles of it), and has steadfastly refused to give it back to Spain ever since! The damn cheek of it… their current excuse is that they asked the inhabitants if they wanted to be British or Spanish in 1967, and most said they wanted to stay British… hardly surprising, but a very silly situation.

So now they drive on the right side of the road, have their own currency (the Gibraltar pound, not even the English pound) and get all grumpy when you want to pay in euros. They have their own airport – it protrudes out into the harbour, and the main road across to Spain runs right through the middle of it, so they have barrier arms to stop the traffic when planes are landing and taking off, just like at railway crossings!!!

We arrived early, docking before dawn, and had a very pleasant stroll through town before the shops opened. There’s another bloody cable car up to the top of the Rock, which I declined to take. Two of those infernal machines is enough for any vacation! JB however wanted to see the monkeys, so off she went. I satisfied myself with the solo monkey in town, which was furiously attacking rubbish bins… well a monkey’s got to live…

We met up again at Marks and Spencers (oh so very British) and did a quick whisk around the shops, I had a hair cut, and bought a couple of things before heading back to the ship for lunch and an early departure. The locals told us that they have had a terrible winter, with four months of virtually non-stop rain, and that it should be stinking hot by now. Fortunately, the weather is currently unseasonably temperate… our luck is holding.