We had been in regular communication with my friend, John (soon to be Michael’s friend as well) since we started sailing. John is an avid traveler, so he was uber interested in our adventures. Our repeated message to him was, “Come join us!” So he did! It worked out well because Michael and I had planned a trip to the USA and knew exactly when we would return to Spain. John joined us a day after we got back to Seahike.
If you’ve been reading this blog you know that Michael and I had been to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar. But we wanted to share this experience with John as well. So we walked from Spain to Gibraltar with the expectation that we would ride the cable car to the top.
That didn’t happen.
The cable car to the top of the Rock was closed. We found a little tour bus office. They told us to wait for the next tour bus and guide to arrive. They were extra busy this day cuz the cable car was closed. The owner assured us about 20 times that we were taking the right tour. We didn’t want the “shit tour” that the cruise passengers took because it was a “shit tour.” He told us about 18 more times that we didn’t want to take the “shit tour” because it really was a “shit tour.”
So we waited. About 30 minutes later, the bus and guide arrived. We were on our way on the “non shit tour”! To be fair, it was a good tour. We would have preferred more time, but they had to pick up another group, of course, to save them from opting for the “shit tour” instead.
We took a totally touristy photo by the phone booth while we waited. The other picture below is from our first viewpoint stop. These are the Pillars of Hercules. The Pillars of Hercules are the mountains on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar. And noted by this marker.
Our first stop after the viewpoint was Saint Michael’s Cave. The cave is full of stalagmites and stalactites that are brilliantly illuminated to highlight their details.
St Michael’s Cave was long believed to be bottomless. This probably gave birth to the story that the Rock of Gibraltar was linked to Africa by a subterranean passage under the Strait of Gibraltar. The famous macaques were said to have come to Gibraltar through this subterranean passage.
It was at one time believed that in 1704 Spanish troops spent a night in the cave after climbing the precipitous east face of the Rock. Another story about the cave recounts how a Colonel Mitchell and another officer were said to have descended into the cave at some unspecified date before 1840 and were never seen again. During WWII the cave was prepared as an emergency hospital, but was never used as such. The cave is open to visitors and makes a unique auditorium for concerts, ballet and drama. It has been in use as a theatre since the early sixties with capacity for 600 persons.
At some period during the history of this cave, part of a stalagmite became too heavy on one side and fell, possibly thousands of years ago. It now lies on its side at the far end of the main chamber, cemented through the years by nature to the floor of the cave. In 1972 a slice was cut off from the top end which revealed the interior structure of the stalagmite in a most dramatic fashion (there is a picture of his below – see the caption).
An immersive light and sound installation – The Awakening – expresses layers upon layers of history fused with the Rock. The Awakening illuminates these sculptures of time and reawakens their hidden story. The cave was beautiful when lit (and the music was perfect for the occasion) but it shared a different kind of beauty when the colored lights were turned off and the cave appeared in its natural splendor.
Our next stop was to the top of the Rock.
Standing 426 meters tall and dominating Gib’s skyline is the landmark, ‘The Rock’ – one huge piece of limestone! The Strait of Gibraltar is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the Mediterranean. You can see the neighboring continent of Africa in the distance. To the East is the Costa del Sol where you can make out Marbella whilst looking North you can see Southern Spain and the immediate neighboring Spanish town of La Linea.
And, of course, the famous Barbary Macaques.
Perhaps Gibraltar’s most important tourist attraction, the Barbary Macaques are normally found in North Africa, but their presence in Gibraltar probably dates from the early days of the British garrison when it is presumed that they were imported, inevitably finding the rough limestone cliffs and scrub vegetation a congenial habitat. In fact, many legends have grown up around them. One is that they traveled from their native Morocco via a subterranean tunnel starting at St Michael’s Cave leading down underneath the Strait of Gibraltar.
Another legend claims that, should the macaques ever disappear, the British will leave Gibraltar. During the last war, natural causes had diminished the macaque numbers alarmingly. Fortunately, Sir Winston Churchill took a personal interest and additional animals were imported from Morocco. Today, in addition to the pack resident at Apes’ Den, there are other packs living wild on the steep slopes of the Rock. Gibraltar does not wish to lessen ‘the monkey experience’ but experts have warned that too much human interaction is harmful to these wild animals.
Gibraltar’s large number of Barbary Macaques are the only free roaming primates in Europe and along with the Japanese Macaques. They are also the only macaques outside Asia, making them a very curious resident on top of an otherwise very serene lump of limestone rock.
Just so ya know, at first they were deemed to be apes because they have stocky bodies, no tails and spend more time on land than on trees. But in fact, they are monkeys, owing to the way they walk on all fours rather than on their knuckles and that they cannot swing from branch to branch like gibbons.
I should also note that we also went on the Skywalk. Opened on March 21, 2018 – by Mark Hamill himself! – it is Gibraltar’s newest attraction and not for the faint hearted! Located at a former military lookout point, the glass platform protrudes out from the edge of the cliff over the Jurassic dune below and overlooks the Mediterranean.
It became clear that some of the macaques are familiar with the tour guides. In fact, the guides – who warned us not to feed the macaques – also feed them. Here is the progression of one mom as she got closer and closer to our minibus until she was in the window.
Cannons, mounted on the fortified cliffs of Gibraltar, were historically used to defend the British territory from potential invaders. Many such cannons are positioned throughout the rock’s fortifications, particularly on the upper levels overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar; essentially, it symbolizes the military presence and defensive capabilities of the Rock of Gibraltar.
More views from the Rock:
Because Gibraltar has long served as a vital military outpost for the United Kingdom, it is covered in military fortifications from the past few centuries. But the military additions to the peninsula also included almost 55 kilometers (34 miles) of tunnels, sections of which tourists are able to visit and explore. The World War II Tunnels and the Great Siege Tunnels are two places open to the public and both located at the northern end of the Gibraltar Nature Reserve. In each, visitors can learn about the history, the use of these tunnels, and what it was like to live down there.
The Great Siege Tunnels
This labyrinth of tunnels was manually carved out with sledgehammers and gunpowder blasts by 13 men to create openings for guns on the Rock’s North face. The Great Siege of Gibraltar took place during 1779 to 1783 when the British were defending against Spanish and French armies recapturing Gibraltar.
I wish we’d had more time to explore the tunnels but we were on a tour. (And, remember, we had to get back so the driver could pick up more people who weren’t going on the “shit tour.”) In any event, we kind of speed walked through, taking pictures as we went. They do a nice job of telling the story and including various characters to bring it to life.
Lt. Evelegh shows the progress of the tunnel to Lt. General Eliott
Eliott was the Governor of Gibraltar during the Great Siege and Evelegh, his Aide de Camp, was also in charge of the excavation of the tunnel. The original idea for this, however, belongs to Sergeant Mayor Ince of the Military Artificers.
Thirteen men began work on May 25, 1782, and it took them five weeks to drive an eight-feet-square tunnel 82 feet into the rock. At the end of six weeks a hole to the outside was made. Whether this was for ventilation, for the easy disposal of the excavated rock or simply an accident is not known for certain, but it was immediately obvious that this would make an excellent place to position a cannon.
The figure below depicts a Soldier Artificer of 1786 in working dress. The Company of Artificers was formed in March 1772 by Lt Col William Green who was the Chief Engineer of Gibraltar. Although a Corps of Engineer Officers already existed, Green decided that he needed workers who were used to military discipline, rather than local civilians, in order to efficiently carry out the improvements to Gibraltar’s fortifications. Four out of the original 68 members were in fact Gibraltarians, but the rest were selected from enlisted soldiers.
During the Great Siege the Artificers were divided into three divisions and reinforced by several officers detached from infantry regiments to act as assistant engineers and overseers. The Corps proved to be very useful and was increased to 122 men in 1779 and then to 234 by August 1782. After several name changes and distinguished service, they finally amalgamated in 1856 with the Royal Engineer Officers to become the Corps of Royal Engineers.
The Duc de Crillon (pictured below)
In 1782, the third year of the siege, all of the French and Spanish forces besieging Gibraltar were put under the command of Jean Louis des Balbes de Berton de Crillon, The Duc de Crillon.
Although he was a French nobleman, he had served in the Spanish Army for 20 years. This, together with his experience of 22 sieges and his recent conquest of Minorca, made him the most logical choice of commander for the joint force from both a political and military point of view.
After the Great Siege ended, The Duc de Crillon and his staff were invited to dine with General Eliott in the Convent on March 31, 1784. As part of his visit to the Rock he was shown this tunnel and is reported to have said, “These works are worthy of the Romans!”
The scene below depicts a gun crew in action wit one of Lt. Koeher’s newly designed gun carriages.
From the gunner’s point of view, these were considerably safer than the standard design of gun carriage. Firstly, when the gun was fired the barrel was able to recoil up the carriage instead of propelling the whole carriage off the ground at considerable risk to all around. Secondly, the barrel could be turned at 90 degrees to the gun carriage for cleaning out and reloading – which substantially reduced the danger of being hit by enemy fire whilst standing in front of the embrasure. Another advantage was the fact that as the action of absorbing the recoil was upwards, the carriage was left in situ and so ensured greater accuracy in bracketing shots.
St. George’s Hall (below)
Although the cannons are no longer on their original Victorian gun carriages, St. George’s Hall still contains some interesting features including the giant curtain rails above the gun embrasures which would have supported the woven rope mantlets.
Perhaps the most interesting feature of this area is located above everyone’s heads in the center of the chamber’s ceiling. It was probably constructed as an id to ventilation since the smoke and fumes generated by so many cannon being fired in a relatively enclosed space would have been considerable.
WWII building
The aim of the tunnelling that took place during WWII was to provide facilities for the garrison to live inside the Rock for up to a year. This meant catering for all the needs of 16,000 men. Wow!
Consequently the designs included storage for water and food supplies; electricity generation; hospitals; sanitary facilities; laundry facilities and accommodations. The exact purpose of the WWII building erected in the area where we were visiting is unclear. It may have served as a hospitable refuge for the soldiers on duty in the tunnel or simply as a storage area.
The WWII information primarily consisted of black-and-white photographs, so I don’t have anything to share with you.
Time to go back down. Hey, another photo op with the macaques!
That’s it for today. We left for Tangier the next day.