The Ambitious Odometer: Gibraltar

Tuesday, June 14, 2022

{EUROPE} Days Five & Six - Gibraltar + AT SEA

Yesterday, we docked early in Gibraltar...

and while Grandma stayed behind on the ship (she'd been to Gibraltar many years ago, along with my dad), the kids and I went on a tour!

We toured around the town by bus and then hit some points a little further out.

We headed over to the area near the Spanish border, and drove across the airport runway (yes, you can both drive AND walk across the runway there!) for this (most famous) view of the rock...

From there, we headed over to Europa Point, the southernmost point of Gibraltar...

with a view of Africa, across the Straight of Gibraltar...

Then, we continued up into the Upper Rock Nature Reserve,

where we saw our first barbary macaques...

{that's our ship down below}

up toward St. Michael's Cave...

The Angel of St. Michael's Cave was my favorite inside...

On our way out of the cave, we saw more barbary macaques...

and waved over to Africa again...

On the way back down, we passed by the Moorish Castle...

before being dropped off at Grand Casemates Square...

We enjoyed a walk through town...

on a hunt for the Referendum Steps, also known as the Union Jack Steps, and we found them!

These steps were painted in celebration of Gibraltar's first sovereignty referendum in 1967...

Not state capitol steps, but they ran them anyway...

On our way back down and into town, we stopped at Marks & Spencer for some Percy Pig gummies...

{IYKYK}

because, YUM!

Afterwards, we went on a search of post boxes. On our tour, we learned that while the United Kingdom has boxes with the current monarch's royal cypher (initials), Gibraltar actually has many of the old boxes from kings and queens of the past!

We also found a phone booth (WITH a phone!) and some celebratory banners noting the Queen's Platinum Jubilee...

Once back down near the square...

we found a little place to grab a snack...

of avocado toast for the girls and me...

and churros for B...

I also took a few photos of flowers...

because...

FLOWERS!

On our walk back to the ship, we noticed an extra special post box...

celebrating the birth of Prince George...

With that, we left Gibraltar and prepared to sail away...

We enjoyed a fun, and high energy, show as we pulled out of port...

and I enjoyed a Pimm's Cup, too!

After a wonderful night of great sleep (windows can be so overrated, but seriously, sleeping in a dark cabin, while being rocked to sleep by the ocean - perfection!), today, we enjoyed another "At Sea" day...