On Monday I was driving south from Cordoba to Cadiz in my rented Citroen C4 (thanks Pau for the hook-up!) when, pretty much at the last second, I saw the sign for Gibraltar and went straight instead of turning. About an hour later, in the distance, I could see a giant rock sticking up out of the water.
What followed was something completely different than I thought it'd be. I figured that I'd get to Gibraltar, walk around a little bit, and take some photos...but, no, there's a BORDER CROSSING that you drive through to get to it. Gibraltar is an "British Overseas Territory" (not colony). I never knew. This must be the fault of some geography teacher I had at some point!
It was kinda' like the first time I drove into Mexico. I thought for sure that I'd be stopped, arrested, kidnapped, whatever. But wait, everything's in English...and there's a Union Jack flying on that pole. Wow. I left Cordoba to go to Cadiz and arrived in London on the way. Ha!
Here's one non-Brit white guy in the classic-Brit pic:
At least you still drive on the right so no stress there. There's a lookout point and museum complex that you have to pay something like 11 pounds (as in Pounds Sterling - £) to enter so I stopped on the side of the road at a spot where you can see both Spain and Africa. In the photo below, past the light house and under the clouds, you can make out Africa in the distance. Very cool!
But wait...on the way there, you pass by something out of the Planet of the Apes. THERE ARE MONKEYS ROAMING THE STREETS!!! Here are some on the side of the road:
and more hanging out on one of the buildings near the light house:
All in all, a pretty lucky chance encounter with a neat place. I would have never expected it when setting out that morning. Oh yeah, I did have fish and chips for lunch. So bad. So good.
Cheers!
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