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Heading south from Ronda we chose the "scenic route", which but for some road construction was worth the trip... many of the hills were dotted with old forts or castles and more white washed houses. This is XXX on the way to Jimena de la Frontera |
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Jimena de la Frontera... sorry, we do not have time to stay... must get to "The Rock" on schedule. |
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So... there it is Gibraltar.. "liberated" by the Brits during the War of Spanish Succession, Gibraltar is one of the "Pillars of Hercules" XXX YYY
The rock of Gibraltar is only 388ft tall, but its isolation and strategic importance make it appear much bigger.
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The British Colony of Gibraltar is pretty much only the rock itself and a small bit of land around the base. The airport separates Gibraltar from Spain, so to get to Gibraltar, you either have to drive or walk across the runway. Immigration stops for incoming or outgoing flights. |
Gibraltar: Siege cannon |
The "Great Siege Tunnels" made by the British were so high up and the Spanish so close, that the cannon carriages had to be modified to fire down. |
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Easy, but crowded cable car ride to the visitors center... not at the top, but close enough. |
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Mommy, is that "Prudential"? |
Gibraltar: Rock apes (monkeys) |
Gibraltar has "Barbary Apes" or "Rock Apes" which are really monkeys... they range from "bored" to "very aggressively interested in what is in your bag". You are not supposed to feed them but that had obviously not bee strictly enforced. |
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No, I will not pose for a photo with you... |
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This guy knew there was something to be had in the gift shop. |
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Solitude |
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Taxi drivers, yes you can hire a taxi/tour to take you around and up the rock, would pull up and honk, the monkeys would come running. |
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Monkeytron towered over the passing freighters... |
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"The Rock" is mainly limestone, so it contains several caves... one of which is St. Michaels. This is a cross section of a stalagmite which had fallen, can't say I had seen that before. |
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They filled in part of the cave floor and turned it into a concert hall... the acoustics are apparently amazing. Check out the Gibraltar Philharmonic and pick up a new domain http://www.philharmonic.gi/ |
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Walking around towards the "Great Siege Tunnels" you get a pretty good view of the airport and Spain beyond. |
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During the "War for American Independence" (doesn't sound as cool as "Revolutionary War" does it?) the Spanish tried to take Gibraltar back from the British. During this "Great Siege" these tunnels were dug by hand and blasted (1782-1783) to get flanking shot on the Spanish positions below. |
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Quite an accomplishment for the time... they were later used in both World Wars. |
Gibraltar: Moorish castle (closed) |
This is a Moorish castle (currently closed) at the base. |
We went on to Tarifa, trying to get some beach time, but the weather didn't cooperate. Tarifa is the "wind surfing capital of the world" and the town was a unappetizing combination of Venice Beach and a run down port town. Miles and miles of great beach, but just not there at the right time. |
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We stayed at the Punta Sur hotel which was up the coast (West) of Tarifa across the highway from beach access. The hotel was very nice, a bit boutique, with a good restaurant and pool area. Would do it again. We had probably the best meal of the trip down the road at the Hotel Dos Mares, which also looked like a good bet. |
| With bad weather we visited the Roman ruins at Baelo Claudia (2c bc), which were 15min or so east of the hotel. Set "on the beach" it was fairly interesting, columns from the basilica and three temple foundations ... the bulk of the site remains unexcavated. |
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The next day we zipped up the Spanish version of the Autobahn (toll, but very fast) to avoid the overbuilt "Costa del Sol" towns of Marbella, Torremolinos & Malaga. From our vantage point it seemed to be miles and miles of condos... which is really not what we were after. Anyway, destination Granada... but on the way we took a brief detour to Anteqera to see the "dolmens". |
Just outside of town, the first site has two "dolmens" or burial chambers?... the Menga (2500 BC) and the Viera (2200 BC) are both kind "artificial caves" consisting of a long tunnel back to a small chamber. On source claims this is the oldest site dolmen site in Europe. The largest stone slab in the celling is estimated to weigh 140? tons. I think this is the oldest thing I have ever seen? |
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A recent discovery... a deep shaft sunk into the floor... currently ending in water... purpose unknown. |
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Just outside of town is "El Romeral dolmen" which has nothing to do with the Romans. It is slightly younger than the others circa. 1800BC and is much more "refined". Completely devoid of tourists and surrounded by a nice grove of trees... it felt like a movie set. |
| The Romeral dolmen has walls of smaller rocks... pitched in with large capstones... the two back chambers were beehive in shape with large capstones. You must admire something that survives 4,000-5,000 years in an earthquake zone. |
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