As today is the national holiday of Spain, simply named "Fiesta Nacional de España", I actually managed to squeeze some time to write about my experience travelling to the British-owned territory known as Gibraltar and the astonishing city of Málaga (this time, I actually got to view a lot more of the city, and I am in love with it even more).
When we arrived to Gibraltar, we were required to go through British customs. Before the border, I got to look upon the "Rock" of Gibraltar, which is basically what is thought of whenever this place is mentioned. The funny thing about the rock was there was this dark, ominous cloud hovering over all of the peninsula, and we said that it was imitating the natural conditions of the United Kingdom. This was partially true, as there was clouds mostly over the British side all day but never on the Spanish side.
The cloud!
The border.
The flag of Gibraltar, followed by the British flag, finally followed by the European Union flag.
Yes, a telephone booth! There were a lot of people doing tourist photos in this phonebooth as we were waiting for the others.
Once everybody gained permission to enter the territory, we hopped on a bus with a tour guide that was born and raised in Gibraltar! His mother was Spanish and his father was British, so he grew up knowing both languages, for which I had fits of jealousy. However, I learned that relations between the Spanish and the British have not always been the best, and I felt remorseful for some of the hardships that the man had to endure during his lifetime in Gibraltar. While he was explaining his story, we waited forever in traffic for some unknown reason. He then told us that we were waiting for a plane to take off because the roadway we were on shared the runway for the airport!
The actual plane is located at the bottom of the lamppost.
Driving over a runway, no big deal.
We were then given a tour of the various tourist spots located on the Rock, and this required our little van to climb higher and higher up the steep roads, and it made us somewhat nervous. However, our tour guide insisted that nothing would happen, and gratefully nothing did. Here are some views on the way up and St. Michael's cave.
The bay, from not too terribly high on the Rock.
Queen of England? That's pretty interesting!
The Jurassic-aged cave of St. Michael. Not too much to see, but I enjoy hearing the history of things.
Upon leaving the cave, we were met by the famous monkeys of Gibraltar. The reason why they are so popular is that they are the only species of monkey to live naturally in any part of Europe. It is believed that they were brought there by the Moors when they first invaded southern Spain, but of course, that is just speculation of the experts. I will let the pictures of the silly monkeys explain themselves!
It found a Twix bar wrapper, but found nothing. Can you see the subtle disappointment in this little fellow's face?
That's as close as I would get to the monkeys. Right after this picture, this same monkey jumped off the wall, ran to a lady with a purse, opened her purse, and stole an open bag of Doritos.
Must have been delicious!
A baby!
Look at the human mannerism that this monkey has!
Ah, the Barbary Macaques in a "natural" habitat...
For lunch, my roommate Aurelie and I found a Subway in Gibraltar, and decided to eat there. However, it cost us thirteen Euros for a footlong sub sandwich and two large sodas, which is about $18 in the United States. We asked the employee as to why it cost so much money, and they said that it was due to a steep exchange rate between the Euro and the British Pound. I did not think about how they had to pay a certain percentage to exchange money, but that was the reason of being outrageously expensive.
Aurelie and I.
After a few hours in Gibraltar, we said goodbye and headed to the precious city of Málaga. We were fortunate enough to stay in a four-star hotel while there, and I enjoyed it immensely for its comfortable beds (Best sleep I have ever had in my life!). On the Sunday of our trip, we were able to view the Alcazaba of Málaga, which is a Moorish fortress similar to Granada´s Alhambra. The castle and fortress were not as impressive as the Alhambra, but the view of the Mediterranean Sea was absolutely spectacular! In general, the visit to different places around Málaga was nothing short of fantastic, and I am glad that I had an opportunity to explore this city more than before.
The walls of the fortress along with the background being of the city and port of Málaga.
Skyline of Málaga and the Mediterranean Sea. The picture is a bit overexposed, but it is very difficult to escape the sun in this city (Guaranteed 3,000 hours of sun a year!)
Our tour guide (the name escapes me) and an ancient Roman theater alongside the Alcazaba.
Roman theater! How tremendous!
Giant bubbles in the plaza.
Underneath this pyramid, there were some kind of ancient Roman remains, and it was pretty swell. I could not obtain a picture of the actual site due to a terrible reflection of the sun coming from the glass.
Laura and I.
Some of the restored arches in the Alcazaba.
I thought the silhouettes of Christina and Aurelie looked pretty appealing.
I´m addicted to salmon sandwiches, but I took this picture because I liked the design to make my plate seem fancy (although there was already a chip in the ceramic)
All in all, I very much enjoyed this weekend with my study abroad group. The best part was that the price was already included in what we had originally paid in our billing, so it was definitely worth the somewhat-expensive part of studying abroad.
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