The Rock

of Gibraltar, that is.

On our 4th of July 5 day trip to Spain, we took a day trip to the Rock of Gibraltar. We heard some bad things about the area, so we decided against staying IN Gibraltar. While I LOVED the resort that we stayed at in Chiclana de la Frontera, Gibraltar was awesome.. Yet another place that gets a bad rap.

The portion of Spain leading into Gibralter.. not so nice. But Gibraltar itself was sweet. Turned out to be a small English town with all the perks of being in the UK (most importantly, that the language is English, but also the red telephone booths, fish 'n chips, cute shops, English accents, the beer, etc), but placed so far South that while enjoying the luxuries of England, you can also lay on the beach, get a tan, and sight see (and without the rain)!

Apart from the cute little town is the actual Rock of Gibraltar. You can drive the whole thing (for a small fee.. or not quite SO small, seeing as their currency is the pound) to see all the hotspots, including the Barbary Apes, St. Michael's Caves, a world memorial, and a great view of the city below. My ABSOLUTE favorite part was the Barbary Ape Den.

I'd heard multiple stories about the apes 'robbing' tourists of whatever is in their car/hands, so I was slightly nervous about taking my camera.. especially when we pull up and our car is immediately attacked by two apes. They kept smushing their faces against the windshield, trying to find out what goodies we had inside that they wanted! Hilarious! But they turned out to be the sweetest, cutest little guys you will ever see. It is just crazy for me to see apes running wild along that part of the Rock, living freely but partly domesticated - it was just great.

I would DEFINITELY recommend going to Gibraltar. An overall fabulous day trip!

Up Close and Personal - a Barbary Ape family