Seville1 – Tuesday - transport day

We wanted to get up early and find breakfast somewhere before heading up the rock in the cable car, which started at 9:30.  At checkout Kate noticed that the breakfast buffet was included, so we stored our luggage and doubled back up to the 8th floor.  In between bites, I kept on the kids to keep eating so that we could make it to the cable cars for the first ride up.  The day was still very foggy, and I began to fear that we’d picked a bad day.  But by the time we rode halfway up the Rock,

we were already beginning to see the sun force the fog and clouds back out to sea. (that’s the Spanish side of the bay behind the kids in the above photo) The seagulls also seemed to disappear with the cover.  The ride up was a quick 6 minutes, and deposited us at a man made viewing area with multiple tiers, a pre-recorded tour guide pointed out present and historical sites in all directions.

Quite fascinating.  That little bitty object straight above the left brim of Jane’s cap is one of those HUGE cruise ships.  The kids, especially Maeve and Theo, were more fascinated by the monkeys. 

The only species of monkey known to live on the Mediteranean.  Some 200 of them on the rock of Gibraltar, and some thousands more in Africa.  There were stern signs to not feed the monkeys or face a 500 Euro fine, and also numerous warnings to keep your distance from the monkeys lest they bite.  Despite all of this we saw a monkey get a tourist’s potato chips and another’s fruit loops cereal.  They were fun to watch but soon became a bit of an irritant for mom/dad as we needed to keep the troops moving in order to make it back to the hotel and onto a bus for our 3 pm train and the kids merely wanted to watch the monkeys..  After learning of the history of Gibraltar, where the Brits claimed they were forced to take the port in order to avoid the French combining with Spain via a royal marriage and upsetting the balance of power in Europe (history is always written by the victor, isn’t it?), and learning of the great Siege by the Spanish and French on the Brits during the time when they were fighting against the US in our Revolutionary war, and their ingenious rain collection system that helped them withstand any siege, we moved on to St Michael’s Cave.  These natural caves were long known on the rock and are so accoustically sound that they regularly have concerts within them.

  In 1942, as they were blasting tunnels, they accidentally blasted open a hole in St. Michael’s cave that exposed even deeper caverns below.  The military history of Gibraltar was fascinating.  During the great Siege (at the time of the American Revolution), the Spanish sent 500 troops up the backside of the rock guided by a sheep herder.  They went into St. Michael’s cave to lay and surprise the Brits, but were soon discovered and taken prisoner.  The British still hold Gibraltar, of course, and it’s quite a source of contention between  the Spanish and the British.  You can tell it’s quite the sunny resort town escape for the British.  During World War II there was thought that Hitler would attempt to take Gibraltar.  Despite Spain’s claims of neutrality in WW II the Italians had manually guided torpedoes setup on the opposite side of Gibraltar Bay, Algeciras, that were able to penetrate the steel torpedo nets protecting the British ships and sink many of them.  Losing Gibraltar during WW II, would have been a huge blow against the allied forces.  At the WWII tunnels museum we learned that there were more than 30 miles of tunnels cut into Gibraltar rock, more than all the streets outside the rock.  Most of those tunnels were made during World War II.  Many of the tunnels large enough to drive vehicles through.  The majority of the stone that was taken out was used to build an airport that is still used today.  The average day of a soldier serving in Gibraltar was 8 hours of sleep, 8 hours of guard duty, and 8 hours of hauling rock.  6 soldiers volunteered to seal themselves in a special vault.  In case the Germans ever took the rock, they could then sneak out and spy on their operations.  Luckily Spain, who had just finished a bloody civil war under Franco, remained neutral and the rock remained in British hands.  That’s just a bit of the history I can remember from the Rock.  It was fascinating.  At the WWII tunnels, the man could tell I was fascinated with things so he ran to get me a website where I could read more…RockAndFortress.com .The downside of the rock was all the walking.  Especially the run from the south side downhill to the north side.  All total, a little over a mile.  And continuously having to step aside for the tour vans that crowded us.  Here you see one of them with a monkey hitching a ride…

  Luckily it was still in the shade as the sun was still rising in the east and we were on the west facing side of the rock.  But the kids were REAL TROOPERS to do all the walking we did that day.  We checked out the Great Siege tunnels, and the WWII tunnels and the Moorish castle, spending less and less time at each attraction mostly due to the fact that we were worried about making our bus ride in time.  The sped matters along at the Moorish castle when nature called and we cut things extra short.  Again we needed to use God’s public bathroom behind a car.  Jane and I couldn’t help but notice how much Theo reminded us of the monkey we’d seen earlier, just sitting in the path with a big water mark emanating from where he sat and trickling slowly down the hill.   Both Theo and the monkey haven’t yet learned to face downhill when using the great outdoors.  We then found our way back down the hill on steep street that led us out near our hotel.  Actually, one of the numerous tour drivers that was zooming by us as we walked noticed us walking down a road in town, and pointed out stairs just a few feet away that allowed us to short-cut the zig zag roads that would’ve undoubtedly taken another 20 minutes. 

We made it back to the hotel and let the kids relax in the cool hotel lobby for a few minutes while Kate and I gathered the luggage.  Karen, the lady at the counter with the most charming British accent and demeanor warned us that a cruise ship had just arrived and said we’d be better off heading out on a bus.  She pointed us toward the number 3.  With yet a little more walking, this time under the full weight of all our luggage, we made the bus stop and rode out of town.  A little more walk across the border into La Linea and up a couple of blocks to the bus station, where Kate rewarded the kids with some icy pops, after they ate some healthy fruit, of course! 

I’d planned to nap some on the 6 hour bus ride to Seville, but the country side was so fascinating that I couldn’t.  Though the kids all crashed fairly quickly…

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The bus actually went straight back to the Algeciras bus stop and then further down along the Mediteranean coast to Tarifa.  The drive took us to high vantage points over the Strait of Gibraltar where we could see all the boats travelling along the straight and clearly see Africa on the other side.  Surprising how narrow the strait is at points. 

Nearing Tarifa the strait begins to widen and soon Africa disappears.  Tarifa turns out to be the Wind Surfing and Kite Surfing capital of the world.  Having the advantage of a near constant 3 to 4 mile hour wind and beautiful coastline.  There were 2 bays on the coast where I estimated 200 to 300 kites in the air and probably nearly as many sail boarders.  I got this shot as the bus sped by…

Would’ve been a fun day to sit at the beach and just watch their antics.  Looks like many bought into the lifestyle, as there were many RVs parked in the numerous campgrounds along that coast.  If it’s not horribly difficult, I’m now hoping I get a chance to try Kite surfing or Sail Boarding, whichever is easiest, when we hit Fuengirola. 

What I’d read as a 6 hour bus ride turned into a 4 hour bus ride.  Finally a mistake in my favor!  The bus station also turned out to be quite close to our hotel.  One of our easiest walks yet.  Maybe things were finally beginning to go our way.  After we checked into our hotel, we stepped out for a bite to eat.  Opting for a family restaurant/bar abutting our hotel.  The owner was quite patient as Kate made her way through the menu.  Kate told the owner something about majer… best menu of the day that we’d found on our whole trip.  Maeve definitely agreed!

At the end of the meal he noticed that I was cutting more fruit off the fruit he’d pre-sliced for Theo.  Actually, Theo had been cutting more off and I took it away from him to prevent him hurting himself.  We thought he rattled something out about getting us another slice of fruit, and as we hesitated about whether we should leave or wait, sure enough a fresh slice.  Looks like Seville will be our town.  Then a quick walk in the park, cut short by Maeve needing to find a bathroom.  We were only across the street from our hotel, so we hustled back.  But again good fortune struck and we bumped into our first pay toilet.  The bad fortune, no .20 Euro coin.  Theo’d gotten a wallet, actually coin pouch, in Rhonda and had been waiting for any opportunity to spend it.  He lept at the opportunity to help Maeve.

But alas, we were foiled by the machine, which despite us watching a boy walk out of, would only say occupied and not take Theo’s coin.  So we headed back to the hotel anyway, and stayed in for the night.  Theo still gets credit for his chivalry.  At the hotel, the kids enjoying their favorite,  Bob de Sponge in Spanish, of course.