The first morning here we awoke to cloudy skies. I’m fact I headed off for an early morning walk and it was almost too dark for photos.
I was shocked by the number of people about at 8am, but everyone was going to work. Because we are quite close to the border here in the marina I came across morning rush hour. It was absolutely crazy, there were just tons of scooters, cyclists and electric scooters. At one point on a narrow bit of road I witnessed a car stuck behind an electric scooter and a cyclist going much faster zoom past both of them !! I went along the main Street which starts at a place called Casemates Gates. This is a big square full of cafes and bars and we came back here later in the morning for…..you guessed it…. English breakfast 🙂
The afternoon was spent relaxing aboard since the weather wasn’t up to much at all. I went and did some washing but we struggled to get it dry. We found it highly amusing that we came all the way to Gibraltar and got what everyone thinks is typically English weather.
The next day we went out to the square again for breakfast and we did a bit of shopping, Debenhams, an Antique shop and an Art Gallery all got our custom. It was a very odd sensation for us speaking English everywhere and paying in pounds !
Gibraltar really is a fascinating place, there is so much history here, everywhere you turn there’s a plaque or sign with information about what happened on that spot X number of years ago. It also seems like a place that is changing a lot. It is such a small place physically that every spot of buildable land is taken and a lot has been reclaimed from the sea too – including the whole marina complex we are on, with all the tower office and apartment blocks. I went off exploring in the afternoon and found a generous mix of architecture – a lot of which is quite characterless in my opinion (mind you, not helped by the dull day either)
We headed out that evening with high expectations – we had won big at the casino last time we were here and we were hoping for a repeat performance. After we had worked our way through the intricate one way system and slathered on a ridiculous amount of hand sanitizer various times we were finally allowed to the table. We were sat on fully sanitized seats with screens between each player (only 4 per table) but other than that nothing much has changed ! We spent a very enjoyable hour and a half losing our money at the roulette table. We are pleased to report we are still “up” on the house if you include last time 😉 oh and we resisted the temptation to play blackjack or bingo.
What a difference a day makes…. finally we could see the rock as the sun came out !
I left skipper Nigel doing boat jobs and went for a walk …. I went a bit off the tourist track as I didn’t want it to be too crowded. This meant I wandered up empty streets and even found a fairy garden along the way. It was tough going up, very steep and lots of steps but interesting too. There are definitely some slightly more run-down parts of town and the estate built just under the moorish castle definitely could have been prettier.
After I decided against paying to enter the nature reserve since the ticket included entry to various sites and I just really wanted to walk I headed down the rock again. Interestingly pre-covid there was apparently a cheap walker’s ticket but that got stopped – the guide couldn’t really explain why. Anyway, it was in my favour really because I went down a lot of amazing steps with some great buildings and artwork along the way. When I reached the town I found the old Gibraltar chronicle building, it too looks ready for renovation.
I also ended up wandering along what seemed like a back street, I found myself wondering why there was glitter on the floor, then I realised I was at the registry office. If you decide to come to Gibraltar to get married this must be where the excitement happens.
Also along the legal lines I saw a lovely looking garden, I wandered up to take a closer look only to find it was the court! You really can’t walk far here without finding yourself walking along, on or under city walls and battlements, they literally surround the place (of course) and often with fabulous views.
When I got back to Gemini J it was finally dry enough to do some washing. The washing machines are on a floating pontoon with a great view. Now we have clean clothes we can move on tomorrow – weather permitting ;-). All in all I can’t wait to visit the rock again and continue exploring, there’s so much to see and do here for such a tiny place.
The Adventures of Gemini J 