Rockin' Around the Rock

The last two travelogues I wrote while still in Spain, so things were kind of fresh.  The next ones will be recollections composed sitting back in Louisville... 

After the short but impressionable stay in Cordoba, it was time to move on to the the coast.  Again, the chosen form of transit being the train.  This time it was nott he super high speed train but a slower, more mundane train.  Still, the scenery was great and since I was well rested I actually stayed awake for the ride.  Pulling out of Cordoba, the train had to stop and change gauge.  Apparently the rails in Spain for "local" service are a different width than the "international" service lines.  I've never experienced this, and while sitting on the side track all i could think was some poor pit crew is underneath change the wheels on a train. 

At any rate, I was off.  Destination was Algeciras.  The only reqgrent I have about this whole trip is not getting off the train in Ronda and spending an afternoon walking around what everyone tells me (in retrospect) is an amazing little town.  Made famous by Hemingway in "For Whom the Bell Tolls", the ancient town is set high on a gorge and is said to be just beautiful.  It did look lovely out the window, and after pulling out of Ronda, the rails wound down through the valley and gorges passing in and out of tunnels.  Quite surreal really.

outside of Ronda, Spain

Pulling into Algeciras, I was a little disappointed.  This was a modern spanish port town.  In other words dirty and industrial.  No wonder the guidebooks all said to spend as little time here as possible before moving on.  Algeciras does have a couple redeeming qualities, it's across a harbor from Gibraltar and the main jumping off point for ferries to Morocco.  I arrived in the early afternoon, and made my way to the hotel.  I splurged on this "4 Star" property, the Reina Cristina.  And I suppose, judging from the surrounding city, it was the best there is in town, and for only about €40 it was a good deal.  The hotel is actually a beautiful historic property opened in 1902 and has hosted numerous famous people from Winston Churchill to Sir Author Conan Doyle to Rock Hudson.  You may notice none of these are recently famous people. 

The hotel was fine enough and did harken back to a bygone era of travel, and the price was more than reasonable.  But it was not enough to amuse me for the afternoon, so off to the bus station and ride over to Tarifa to see what the was to see.  Tarifa is just over the hill so to speak from Algeciras, and is known as the Southernmost point of Continental Europe (and is actually further south than the cities of Tunis and Algiers in North Africa).  From the south end of town, you stand and look ahead 14 km and see Morocco, then look left at the Mediterranean and right at the Atlantic.

Looking across the straight of Gibraltar at (i believe) is Jebel Musa in Morocco, on the way to Tarifa

Tarifa is a beach town and popular with surfers, both kite and regular variety.  However this being middle of winter and a chill in the air, most the shops were closed for the season.  Still, i was able to walk down the Paseo Alameda and find a cafe and a cerveza, or pass through the old walled city.  I did notice that I was, by far, the person on the tourist office guest list that week that was the furthest from home.  I then caught the evening bus back to Algeciras as the sun set over the Atlantic.

The next morning I was up early and back to the bus station for the ride to La Linea.  From the La Linea station, i followed the herd the 300 meters to the border with Gibraltar.  The whole ride over "the rock" loomed out the window with the sun just coming up burning off the morning fog. (Yes I was that early, of course sunrise wasn't till like 830 too).  After "clearing" immigration into Gibraltar (which basically consisted of showing them I had a passport in my possession, but they couldn't be bothered to look past the cover or look in.  I was a little disheartened since I had now been in three countries and yet to get a stamp).  And then, one of the top things I really was looking forward to on this whole trip....

The nation of Gibraltar basically sits on a  peninsular, much of which is reclaimed land or the famous rock.  So due to this goegraphy, the widest point was chosen to for the airport.  And it's right by the border with the runway running the full length, and then some, from east to west.  Famous amongst us aviation nerds, because it's one of the few places in the world where you can easily and regularly walk right across and active runway.  When a plane is coming in, the shut the gates and hold the traffic, both pedestrian and vehicle (since the road bisects the runway) until the plane has landed and taxied back to the gate.  Yes, i really was excited to walk across the runway.

Why did the airplane cross the road?

Being early on a Saturday morning, most the shops in the town were yet to open.  Gibraltar is a tax free shopping area, so a lot of people come across to buy booze and other luxuries.  I found a pub that was open and had a fine full English breakfast.  Having skipped dinner the night before I may have inhaled the whole thing in one breath.  The old city looks like it was transported out of an English port town (for obvious reasons) and has the similar vibe, except the residents may suddenly without warning switch from the Queen's English to Spanish mid thought.  I left breakfast and walked toward the cable car station for a ride to the top of the rock, passing the Trafalgar Cemetery, where many of Lord Nelsons casualties reside after the Battle of Trafalgar.  I kept moving on, and passed a tour guide touting his drive around the rock tour.  Being cheap, and not wanting to wait for him to collect 3 more passengers, I declined and decided to take the cable car up, (it was £4 cheaper).  And up to the top I went.

Trafalgar Cemetery

The rock has been the scene of tons of military sieges and battles due to the uber-strategic location, so lot's or tunnels and embattlements dot the landscape.  There's also the natural formations and the monkeys (the only native primates in Europe live there, and no one is really sure how they got there).  So, from the top of the rock, I thought I'd just walk down and see some of the sights it being a beautiful sunny day, and about 60 degrees.  Yeah, not my best plan.  By the time I got about 2/3's down I was really wishing I had spent that £4.  I did stop at a few of the historical spots, and watched the monkeys scurry about. Then I staggered into the first pub at the bottom I could find, and downed 2 bottles of water and a pint of ale (not in that order).  By this time, the sun was shining bright and the streets were full of shoppers.  There was even a parade of redcoats through town, and I'm sure why.  After some meandering about seeing various monuments and shops, it was off to a different pub for a steak and ale pie for lunch.  A few more pub stops and it was time to head back to Algeciras for the night.  If i thought the immigration procedures getting into Gibraltar were slack, i discovered getting back into Spain was even less formal...  i didn't even see a customs agent.  I'd like to stay longer in Gibraltar sometime, but it's pricey and will have to wait for a future stop.  The next day was going to be busy, up early and off to Africa. 

And that'll be in the next installment.