Greatest road-trip day ever
Trip Start
May 23, 2008
1
32
54
Trip End
Ongoing
Málaga, Andalusia, Spain and Canary Islands
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Oh my god today was my most favourite day! We had the best time, we did so much and had an absolute ball the whole time i cannot believe it. We started out early and headed for Gibraltar, a territory of the UK situated on a little point of the Iberian Peninsula, taking up an area of 5km by 1km. As its not part of the European free trade agreement (like the UK) you need a passport to enter, which was kinda cool, although all they did was take a quick glance at it, no stamps or anything! Gibraltar is famous for a couple of things, one namely being the ´Rock of Gibraltar´- a huge limestone rock which towers over the territory, and takes up almost all of it! They survive purely on trading, services and tourism, as nothing is manufactured or produced there and everything is imported. As its part of the UK they use pounds as their currency, which was kina of annoying as i didnt have any pounds, luckily though as Georgie and Sean had just come from London they had some and i paid them back in euros. You can pay for things in euros but they tend to hike the price up alot and you dont get a good deal.
Apparently Gibraltar is supposedly meant to be like 1960´s Britian, not that i know what that was like but i guess i will believe them. The police are proper poms and all wear the the cool egg shaped hard hats, and it was so trippy hearing them speaking proper english as i havent been in an english speaking country in so long its crazy! They even had the london style post boxes.
One of the more uinusual things about Gibraltar, not that the place isnt already totally wierd, is that the airport runway actually crosses over the main road, so to get in you have to litterally walk/drive across the runway! We had to wait for a plane to take off, which means that the boomgates come down across the road, and everyone has to wait while the plane trundles down the runway, turns around, and then litterally metres in front of you takes off. It was insanely cool. And really kinda trippy!
We walked through the town towards the cable cars which take you up to the top of the rock, but were stopped just short by a tour guide who offered guided tours around the rock. It was a little bit more expensive but also alot faster as we wouldnt have to walk everywhere, so we jumped in and he took us up. The first place that we stopped was St Michaels Caves, some beautiful natural grottos in the rock full of stalagmites and stalactites, which have been lit up. They have built an amplitheatre inside which is supposed to have amazing acoustics, and they hold events and concerts in there occasionally.
The next stop was to the Rock Apes, or Barbary Machaques - tailess monkeys brought over from Africa which now live wild in the rocks, they are the only primates in Europe and are fed every day by the government. They are used to tourists now though and the tour leaders know them by name, we had a couple in the car with us at one stage and then got some pictures taken with them sitting on our shoulders. They are nasty creatures and tend to bite if they get touched but they will do anything for food so they have been trained by the guides to respond to voice commands.
Our last stop was the Great Siege tunnels, built into the rock during the late 1770´s and early 1780´s. The galleries were carved to protect during the Muslim invasións in the late 1700´s, and are a system of tunnels weaving throughout the mountain interior. They had some spectacular views.
After the tour of the rock we caught the bus back to the border (luckily we didnt have to wait for any planes) and as we were only an tour from Tarifa, we decided that Sean and Georgie needed to see it and so consequently i returned for a third visit! Lucky for them i got to act as tour guide and showed them around the old town, took them down to see where the 2 oceans meet, and laid around on the beach for a while until we got so sandblasted from the crazy winds that we decided that enough was enough and decided to head back.
On our way back along the coast we stopped in at one of the beaches and i had a little nap in the sun, by then it was getting quite late and so we stopped in a our favourite supermarket Eroski and bought some supplies to have a picnic dinner. We continued down the coast a bit till we found this really cool area that looked like Beverly Hills, with grand houses and apartments stretching along the beachfront. We set up our little picnic and shared some wine while we watched the sun set over the ocean, the setting was so lovely that it felt kinda surreal! We sat there until it got dark, and then continued the drive back to Malaga.
When we got back Georgie was kinda tired but me and Sean were ready to go out so we jumped in the car and went for a drive around looking for something to do. We came across an outdoor gym down by the waterfront and decided to give it a test run, then went for a walk down to a bar/café which was still open and had a really good banana split for desert. By then it was getting into the early hours of the morning so we decided that we should probably finish off our awesome day sometime and headed back to the hostels.
Me and Georgie went through an made a list of everything that we did in one day. It was pretty cool when we said it out aloud! So here it is:
What we did in one whole day.
Went to the UK and back again
Had a plane take off metres away from us
Climbed a huge ass rock
Saw Africa and played with some monkeys
Swam in the Mediterranean AND the Atlantic
Went to the most southernly point in Europe
Had time for a nap on the beach
Drove through Beverly Hills
Had an amazing subset picnic on the beach
Did a workout
Ate some great gelati
We also named the car... his name is Juan (pronounced ´one´, or as we say it - warrrrne!) We think hes a little bit gay, hes very feminine but we love him all the same! I decided that we couldnt go on a roadtrip without giving him a name. And it was so typically spanish that we couldn´t not call him it. It suited him perfectly.
But anyway, im still amazed by that list. We had so much fun. Absolutely brilliant crazy most fantastic day ever. EVER.
I wanna roadtrip forever...
Comments
Planes and big rocks
I can't believe you are still up doing this blog Kate!!! It's 1.30 in the morning for you and you're still managing to make everything sound amazing. 5 blogs in one go could be a record that's hard to beat. Maybe you just have to stop enjoying yourself sooooo much!!!! No don't, we all enjoy reading about it too much. Gibraltar sounds like a bit of an odd place but beautiful. I,m so glad you are so happy that I,m happy too. Bye from you're happy Mumxox
Five Fabulous Blogs
Kate that was a great read 5 in a row. Go the banana split and how great you can work it off at the midnight gym. Luckily Tullamarine isn't operated that way! You were brave with the monkey, did they poop in the car or on you? By the way great photos of everything, sounds like Sean and Georgie are good company....continue your fun.
Luv Donna xx