We’d decided weeks ago, when we were looking at the itinerary for this cruise that we would walk up the rock. It’s relatively easy, we have Maps.me, and all we had to do was find our way out of the town onto the pedestrian walkways. So, after a bigger breakfast than usual, packed with water and a bit of fruit from the cabin, we set off.
It’s a good 20 min walk from the ship into the town centre, and I should point out that as a little bit of the UK, it’s very easy to find necessities there. Despite being absolutely certain that I was organised, I’d not brought some prescription medication with me, but the pharmacies there were very helpful and sorted me out no problem.
Using Maps.Me, we then started walking towards the Moorish Castle, except, for the first time ever, Maps.me did not help, and we ended up climbing a whole load of steps only to have to come down them again. Eventually we came to the well signposted way up the hill towards the Gibraltar Nature Reserve and subsequently the Moorish Castle.
I have to tell you, that is a LOT of steps, we just kept going up and up. In my head, it was good, because steps are the easiest way to get uphill, but my body vehemently disagreed. Several short rest stops were required. Finally, we got to the top and enjoyed the view. As we recovered our breath a German family arrived. I felt a little better when I realised that despite their much younger years, they were as out of breath as we were.
So now onwards and upwards. We were at the entrance of the Nature Reserve and the Moorish Castle. Entrance to the Reserve is £18 per adult, card payment only, and includes your entrance fee to the various attractions on the Rock. We paid our fee and went to go in, but the German family behind us were having problems, they had only bought cash, and asked if we could take the cash off them and pay using our card. Having just walked up the steps ahead of them, I appreciated how it would feel if they would have to go back down again after all that effort, so I agreed. That was my good deed for the day.
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| View of the Moorish Castle and beyond. |
Anyway, are now at the Moorish Castle, one of the sites on The Rock that we’ve not been to before. Despite the fact it would mean up and down a load more steps, we went in. There are very nice gardens, terrapins in the pond and a tower with a fair number of internal floor levels. We enjoyed a brief look around inside and the fantastic views from the top.
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| Looking over the Straits of Gibraltar at Morocco, on the African continen |
Out of the castle and now on one of the many trails up the rock. Some of the roads are used by the taxi’s and minibus services that take the many thousands of visitors up, and some of the roads were pedestrian only, and peaceful. Despite the slope of the walk, it was lovely, taking note of the different plants and flowers along the way. At one point, we looked down to see several large, dark coloured birds, pass below us, heading inland. I like to think they were migrating eagles, many of which cross the straits from Africa heading for their European breading grounds.
Onwards and upwards until we reached the viewing platform where the cable car disgorges its tourists, and the famous Barbary Apes congregate. There used to be a café/souvenir shop here, but now it’s a restaurant, and not somewhere we could buy a quick snack. The apes are a massive attraction, and the few that were there were surrounded by tourists taking photos.
We took a few ourselves and carried on our walk to the next place we wanted to visit, which is the Skywalk, a large glass floored balcony that leans out over the cliff edge. Again, more fantastic views.
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| Looking down through the glass floor on the Sky Walk |
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| Looking North along the ridge of The Rock |
Then, a little further on and up, a Moorish lookout point and finally it was time to start working our way down. I wanted to go into St Michael’s Cave, which is absolutely amazing. We were concerned about the time though, and moved through it quite quickly.
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| St Michael's Cave is massive, and covered in the most fantastic stalactites and stalagmites. An amazing place to visit. |
On our way down I spent more time admiring the various plants and flowers, and managed to get a picture of one of the many butterflies we’d seen during the day. This is a Spanish Festoon
We also visited the Devil’s Gap Battery with it’s massive guns.
Someone has been gardening! This little patch looked and smelt gorgeous as we walked through
Eventually, we found ourselves back in town and walking back to the ship. A really good day and one we thoroughly enjoyed. We were back on board in plenty of time for the 3.30 all aboard time - watching The Rock disappear from view as we sailed away at 4pm
I should mention that as we turned into the straits, at one point the wind was very strong, anything left on a balcony was being blown over the side. Our neighbours on the left lost a piece of A4 paper, someone on the right or above lost their unmentionables, they didn't blow overboard though, they landed in the shelf like projection on the other side of our balcony, and they are still there! I'm waiting for more wind to clear them away.
Shower, food and then a quiet night in the cabin to catch up on sleep and rest the feet. Tomorrow is another sea day. Our legs need a rest.
You can read about our last visit to Gibraltar here:- Wednesday 25th May 22 - Gibraltar
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