Gibraltar - I loved it!

Today we stopped at Gibraltar. It was a fabulous addition to our itinerary! We had a short day, docking at 7 a.m. and leaving just after noon. I could have easily spent a whole day here.

I picked a ship's tour "Walking Tour of the Rock". We were to start with a cable car ride to the top and then walk to the next stop down. Unfortunately the wind was blowing too hard for the cable car to run so we drove up.

Pic. 1 is the view of the rock from the ship. Pic. 2 is of the ship from up on the rock. Pic. 3 is another view down. It was a beautiful sunny day despite the wind and an excellent day to be out walking.

St. Michael's Cave

The first stop was St. Michael's Cave. There were wonderful stalactites (pics. 1-3). Our guide said the green color was from our breath but it appeared the other colors were from colored lights. They were stunning anyways.

We also saw a large cavern that had been used as a hospital but was now a theater (pic. 4). Although the stalactites drip constantly so you have to be careful which seat you select.

There was also a stalactite cross section (pic. 5) that showed how they were formed over time.

Apes Den

A colony of tailless monkeys known as Barbary apes live in a sanctuary on the rock. They do bite so you have to be careful and there are warning signs but apparently they are all inoculated so you aren't likely to get anything serious. There were many young ones playing and adults observing and eating. They are fed and were eating while we were there. Apparently if they think you have food they can get pretty aggressive.

More ape pictures

I couldn't resist getting as many pictures as possible but I didn't want to get too close since they are known for jumping on people. I also took a movie to see them moving about freely in their protected environment.

Observations

The ape and I are enjoying taking in the scenery in pic. 1. Pic. 2 is of the airport which essentially marks the end of English Gibraltar and the beginning of Spain. The demarcation line is at the buildings just after the runway. To drive to Spain you have to cross the runway. When planes land they have to block the road off.

Pic. 3 is of two guns protecting the rock. They are the two blue rectangular boxes in concrete circles, just above the green trees at the bottom of the photo. I could see three from where I took the photo but wanted to zoom in so the guns would show up.

The Great Siege Tunnels

Next we toured the Great Siege Tunnels (pic. 1). They were very interesting. Pic. 2 is of a traditional canon in the tunnel. They originally were dug in the late 1700s to try to get a cannon up on top of the hill. As they were digging they decided to open a hole in the side for ventilation. They realized that it was an excellent place to put a canon. They also used the openings to get rid of debris from the digging. A new canon type was invented to be able to point down (pic. 3). Pic 5 shows the interior of the tunnels.

Gibraltar sail away

We then drove back to the cable car to see if it was running but it was not. As a consolation our guide stopped at a military ceremony with band and soldiers (pic. 1). We saw a bit of marching and heard some playing before heading back to the ship.

Pic. 2 is of some brave windsurfers. Pic. 3 is of a tug helping pull us away from the dock as the wind was trying to blow us back into it.

Pic. 4 is of the ship and rock at sail away.

We have had a number of port days with very few days at sea since entering the Mediterranean. It has been a welcome change of pace. We have also had some interesting lectures. It is nice to feel a bit busy.

Obama and me

At our sail away party I had a chance to get my picture with Obama!

Day of good lectures

Today we had an abundance of good lectures. 1st was the port lecture on Lisbon. I've been there a number of times so didn't see much new to see. As a result, I'm still uncertain of my plans. For first time visitors I recommend Sintra with a visit to the Moorish Castle and the Royal Palace.

The second lecture was our celebrity talk by Angela Cartwright. She was in The Sound of Music as one of the children. In addition she was Penny on Lost in Space. I didn't realize it but she started working as a child actress at 3 and pretty much seems to have worked steadily until she was a Sr. in high school. Her talk was great!

The third lecture was on the Hubble Telescope. It was excellent! I wish we had an astronomer on board in the South Pacific. At night I would go to the top deck to look at the stars but they never turned off the top deck lights so it was hard to see much. The astronomer said we may have a star gazing night if there are clear skies between here and Dover. I sure hope so!

Barcelona

We had a rather unusual time slot for our Barcelona visit. We arrived at noon and departed at 10:30 p.m. The timing allowed me to get on the Internet in the morning and find some sights I had not seen. My back-up plan was the hop-on/hop-off bus which is an excellent choice for the first time visitor. It provides a good overview of the city but Barcelona is so large that it is difficult to do the bus and see the sights in any detail.

Pic. 1 is of the modern cruise ship terminal. Barcelona has a racket going where they charge 3 Euros round trip to go to the city and back. This route is about a 5 min. ride through the port. There are empty docks close to the city where you can walk on/walk off the ship but then they wouldn't get to charge the fee so they had us dock further out. Every port we have been in has provided a shuttle bus service for free if it was required.

Pic. 2 is of the port building where the shuttle bus takes passengers. Pic. 3 is of the statue of Christopher Columbus. The hop-on/hop-off bus can be seen in the lower left corner. I was still toying with the idea of taking it but then saw how crowded it was and the long line to get on so decided to take the metro.