On the ship, several excursions are arranged at every port, allowing passengers to explore the area without having to arrange travel or think for themselves, and usually costing a lot of money. Of course, this suits some people very well, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with these trips, but sometimes it's nicer to wander off by yourselves, to avoid waiting in queues to join coaches. and not be constrained by time schedules (except getting back on board before sailing) which is what we like doing.
So after leaving the ship in the morning when it docked at Gibraltar, we wandered about half a mile into the town, through the square into Main Street, and along as far as the cable car station. It takes you up a very steep ascent up to the top of the rock, some 450m high. The tickets weren't cheap though, £22.50 return for the two of us. Causing Tim to turn purple and exhibit a very sharp intake of breath and muttering how many lagers that would pay for....
At the top of the rock, I was surprised to see one of the famous apes lurking just outside the cable car exit near the viewing gallery. They obviously take it in turns each day to do this, allowing visitors to takes the obligatory photo of a famous primate. This one looked very grumpy, especially as he wasn't going to get any food here, as it is illegal to feed them. The views from the top were breathtaking, and well worth the trip. You can see right over to the African coast, 15 miles in the distance. We decided to have a cup of coffee in the cafe, mainly as there was free wifi, so we rushed in to check our emails and check-in on Facebook...... We sat close to the window with more amazing views over the back of the rock, and another ape kindly posed for photos right in front of me.
The people from the ship on the organised excursion arrived in the cafe some time after us, having caught a fleet of white minibuses to the cable car, or being driven part of the way up the rock and walking to the summit. Another ape took the opportunity of the ever opening door to slip into the cafe too. Or maybe this was just another cruise ship passenger..... He proceed to queue up and ordered a cappuccino. Only joking!
St Michael's cave is another famous attraction on the rock itself, apparently a huge natural cavern complete with stalag tites and mites. "There was no charge when I last came here over 40 years ago, and you could wander round by yourself..." Tim declared, as we got to the entrance of the caves which had now turned into a glorified tourist shop, cafe and ticket booth, charging £10 each for the pleasure of going underground with dozens of other people. Needless to say, we didn't get to see this tremendous natural phenomenon. "£20! Outrageous! I'd rather spend that on lunch back in town" declared Tim, and I reluctantly agreed.......
As we were now already walking downhill, bypassing the caves, we decided to keep going and walk all the way back! Luckily I was wearing trainers as some of the off-road paths were quite steep, very uneven with loose stones. We saw quite a few of the famous apes, including some very teeny tiny cute baby apes. We had read that the larger apes will attempt to relieve you of any loose possessions, such as sunglasses, hats,cameras, binoculars, and try to snatch bags containing food. Obviously they were on commission to supply the market stalls selling such tat, back in town......
Some people on the cruise we spoke to, had been put off by tales of pilfering primates and wouldn't go up the rock for fear of a monkey mugging, but we were made of sterner stuff and weren't fazed by an ape assault. But we did see one German lady standing near us, have hysterics as a medium sized ape leapt on her back and attempted to remove her shoulder bag. She was floundering and waving her arms and screaming, while she was also making drunken-like rotations to try and shake off her unwelcome suitor, as her husband attempted to film her ape encounter for YouTube.....
When we finally arrived back in the Main Street, every bone in my body was aching, and we collapsed in a bar to spend our earlier monetary savings on a beer and some grilled sardines. Later, who should we bump into on the street but Concussion Keith and Donna Kebab (our evening dining companions, see previous blog). Donna was ecstatic as she had purchased some Swarvowski crystal jewellery for only £99, whereas the onboard price for the same object was £150. Woo. Lucky her. My whole jewellery collection isn't worth a quarter of that. And Concussion Keith proudly told us he had bought ten 'sleeves' of cigarettes (cartons) for some bargain price of £30 each and would resell them for double that price back in the uk, to go towards his next cruise ticket!
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