Rock of Gibraltar

We got our first glimpse of the Rock this morning as we left our hotel.

Getting closer.

The Rock of Gibraltar also known as the Pillars of Hercules or the Rock, is a monolithic limestone promontory (this brings back flashes of earth science and geology classes) located in the British territory of Gibraltar, on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula. 

Since we're in British territory, may as well make a phone call in one of their iconic phone booths. 

A moorish castle built in the 700s.

A unique feature of the Rock is its system of underground passages, known as the Great Siege Tunnels.

Fortress walls.

You can see Morocco in the background.

And Spain in the background of this one.

Calcite, the mineral that makes up limestone, dissolves slowly in rainwater. Over time this process forms caves. The Rock of Gibraltar contains over 100 caves. St Michaels cave, located halfway up the slope of the Rock, is the most prominent. I wish they didn't have these psychodelic lights on.

Found in the the cave are stalactites, stalagmites, stalacto, drapes, straws, helictites and pools.

A very large slice of polished stalagmite.

Closer view of Morocco.

Ships in the sea. The Rock is surrounded by the Mediterranean  Sea. 

Approx 40% of the land area was declared a nature reserve in 1993.

The Rock rises vertically from sea level up to 426 meters.

These are the famous Rock apes, Barbary macaques. They are well-known pick pockets so best to leave your bag in the car and don't take any food or they'll snatch it right out of your hand. There are over 300 of them and 6 tribes living wild on the Rock. They are tattooed with a number and letter to keep track of them.

This baby was scared and screaming.

The city of Gibraltar.

The fortifications of Gibraltar have made the Rock one of the most fought over and fortified places in Europe.

A good view of the runway. The road and walkway go right across the middle of the runway so they have to close them off every time a plane takes off or lands, which is 4-5 times a day now, but twice that in the summer.

End of the runway.

Ha! Me walking across the runway. 

Narrow winding road up the Rock.

Closer view of the moorish castle. The Rock was under Muslim rule for over 700 years. It was then ruled by Spain and has been under British rule for the last 300 years. Didn't I do well taking notes on our tour today?

More old tiles. Love them.

Old church

Great door and tiles.

We shared some British fish and chips for lunch.

Entrance to one of the tunnels.

As we left Gibraltar and headed back into Spain, you can see the Sierra Nevadas in the background.

We are in olive country now.

The mountains are covered with olive groves for miles and miles.

Looks like a storm ahead,

Granada.

The lounging area at our B&B.

Kitchen

Entry

Dishes for us to use

View from our window

Looking down out of our window.

Other view from window.

We just can't get away from stairs. We came down these stairs

Then up this winding staircase. So much fun with luggage!

We don't like to wait until the restaurants open at 8 to eat dinner so we stopped at the supermerket to get something to take back to the inn. 

Kim toasted up a pizza.

We racked up 14,879 steps and about 7 miles today. It's taken me 3 hours to post this tonight because of the horrible Internet here and it keeps saying it isn't saving so...