Gibraltar!

Thursday morning, I woke up really early to catch a bus with Christine’s school. They were taking a field trip to Gibraltar and graciously allowed me to join them. When I arranged all of this, I thought they would be going straight to Gibraltar, or at least Algeciras which is 30 minutes away. In reality, they were first going to see Roman ruins and a beach an hour west of Algeciras in a remote location where no buses go. For me, that would have meant not getting to La Linea, the Spanish border town where I was staying, until late Thursday evening.

Along the drive, we went through Malaga, Marbella and Estepona. The highway was practically in the water and all the buildings were summerhouses and apartments. This part of Spain is known for being home to many British and German expats. All along the highway, signs were in English. There were also tons of Asian restaurants (Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Indian) and the radio was even in English. It was actually kind of ugly and un-Spanish.

We stopped in a town because a student had to use the bathroom. I realized that there were bus stops all along the way and figured one bus had to go to Algeciras. I got off our bus and went into the gas station café and asked people if there were any buses to Algeciras. They said no, but there were buses to La Linea. I was shocked! I hadn’t realized exactly how close we were to Gibraltar. I had to wait about an hour, but I was able to catch a bus (for only 3 euro) which took me straight to where I needed to go! During my wait, I poked my head into an English bookstore. It took a lot of will to not buy the entire place, but I reminded myself that I already had a book to read and purchasing another one would mean having to carry it.

I arrived in La Linea at 1:30, a pleasant surprise considering I hadn’t planned on getting there until at least 8 pm. I immediately crossed the border to Gibraltar and joined a tour group going up the rock. They were an American family from Pennsylvania. Groups are generally seven people and they were six (Mom, Dad, 2 daughters in their mid and late 20s, a 22 year-old son and his girlfriend). We took a taxi/van up the rock, stopping first to enjoy the views of Africa from Jew’s Gate. Then we continued up to St. Michael’s Cave, which was amazing. It’s an underground complex of rocks and incredible formations. It was actually carved by water, so it’s more of a grotto than a cave. There is a theater inside, where concerts are sometimes held. Next we stopped to see some of the apes (Barbary Macaques) who live on Gibraltar. They’re used to tourists taking their photos. One ape had a baby it was feeding. The little ape was really cute and didn’t have all of its hair yet. Our final stop was to visit the Great Siege Tunnels, a British defense system used in the 1779-83 siege.

The Brits have controlled Gibraltar since 1704, Spain attacked in 1779 because it wanted (and still wants) the land. Gibraltar is in an interesting place because it’s connected to Spain, has views of Morocco (it’s about 14 miles across the strait), and is located near the spot where the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean meet. Its location is important for military purposes and trade. Now, Gibraltar is a tax-free zone. There are only 25,000 people living on the rock, but there are tons of businesses there. These range from financial firms to online gambling companies (there are 200 in Gibraltar). Gas, cigarettes, perfume and alcohol are all cheaper, and many people cross from Spain to purchase these items. It’s like a big duty-free store.

While up on the rock, I saw Baleigh, a conversation assistant from Ronda who is friends with Christina (the girl from Tufts – see Ronda entry). She was there with her students. I saw them again as they were leaving Gibraltar. After touring the rock, I wandered around the shopping area, going first to Mark’s and Spencer. I knew it was there, and I was planning on seeking it out. Mark’s and Spencer is a British department store with an amazing grocery store full of high-end prepared foods and sauces. I knew I couldn’t buy much because I’m leaving Spain soon. Luckily the food section was small. I did buy some marshmallows though. I wandered Gibraltar town looking for some of the five synagogues. Most were small – all I could see was a door.

I ended up at Casemates Square, another shopping and café area. I went to the Gibraltar Crystal Glass Factory (the only product made on Gibraltar), but they were about to close for the day so there were no glass demonstrations. After that, I walked back to Spain and settled in for the evening. At night I took a walk down the eastern coast of La Linea to see the rock.

Friday morning in went to Morison’s, an American-style (it used to be owned by Safeway) grocery store in the western part of Gibraltar town. I was very overwhelmed. It was a lot like Super Stop and Shop in Harwich. Inside I found tons of stuff you can’t get in Spain like crasins and fresh salsa, as well as an entire section devoted to allergen-free foods. I bought some more marshmallows and some ginger-coconut cookies and lemon cookies.

I walked around Gibraltar town some more. I had to go to the bank to change some pounds my dad had given me. Gibraltar has its own pounds, but they accept English ones also. My dad had given me some English pounds from the 70s or 80s. They were still usable, but many shopkeepers didn’t recognize them and wouldn’t accept them. (Morison’s did.) The bank changed them into newer English pounds.

From Gibraltar town, I headed south toward Europa Point – the tip of the Rock. Along the way I stopped at Trafalgar Cemetery where there are graves of sailors who died during the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar. I also visited the Alameda Botanical Gardens. I usually don’t like botanical gardens too much – they can be pretty, but to me, it’s just a bunch of plants. These were really peaceful and there was a small wedding party celebrating in a clearing.

Europa Point is three miles south of the border with Spain. It was really hot out and I was pretty tired when I go there. I went to the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe, a church which houses a 15^th century statue of a virgin. It was originally a mosque, but in 1492 the Spaniards converted it into a chapel. In 1997, the Muslim community on Gibraltar built a new mosque at Europa Point; it’s called Ibrahim Al-Ibrahim Mosque. The other structure at the end of Gibraltar is a red and white striped light house. While I was there, I asked a British guy to take my picture. His kids (who were probably five or six) asked me if everyone wanted to take my picture. I tried to explain that I wasn’t traveling with my mommy and daddy, so I needed other mommies and daddies to take my picture for me.

From Europa point I took a bus to town. I walked around a bit more, stopping at a Kosher grocery store where I bought candy corn!! It was imported from Brooklyn and cost a fortune, but I couldn’t not buy it.

I took another bus to the eastern part of the rock to go to a beach. It wasn’t that nice of a beach and was only about 15-20 feet wide (between the water and a hotel). That part of Gibraltar is being reclaimed by the water. While I was sitting in the sun, the water came in suddenly. I managed to get my camera, backpack and shoes into the air, but my pants (I was laying on them) and magazines got soaked. I moved to a different spot (behind a rock) and sat there until my pants dried.

On the bus back to the border area, some tweens sat behind me. There were four girls, who were speaking Spanglish. People on Gibraltar speak English (with a British accent) and Spanish (with an accent from Cadiz, Andalucia). More often, they speak a mixture of the two: they’ll say one clause in English, then “porque” (because) then another clause in English. Shopkeepers would speak Spanish to each other, then English to me. I would answer in Spanish and they would speak English to me again. There was never a pattern. I found that some of the bus drivers seemed to prefer Spanish, but one almost didn’t speak any Spanish. The Jewish community seemed to do most of its business in English (in the grocery stores and at the synagogue), but there were people speaking Spanish also.

Speaking of the synagogue, I went to Nefusot Yehudah Synagogue for Friday night services. The building was from the 18^th century and ornately decorated inside. There is a large Jewish community on Gibraltar because it was one of the places where Jews were granted asylum during expulsion from Spain. During the day, I had asked people where I could go to services. I had seen many families walking around and there were several Kosher grocery stores. They told me to go to this particular synagogue. I hadn’t remembered that services would most likely be conservative. I had to sit in the women’s gallery and try to follow along in a book that was written in Hebrew and Spanish. They spoke really fast and it was quite difficult. Luckily a woman helped me. At first I was up there with an 8-year-old and we were both completely lost. Then, as this woman came, and helped us follow along. I thanked her afterwards and we chatted about teaching; she tough many years at a Jewish school in England.

Walking back from the synagogue, I was worried that it would start raining. I didn’t have my raincoat and felt a few drops. When I was half-way between the border and the synagogue, I looked up and saw a full rainbow over the rock. It was incredible. The sky behind me was red and the rock was glowing in the blue-purple sky. The colors were really spectacular. I made my way toward the border, but an airplane was arriving. The Gibraltar airport runway crosses the only street into the rock. When a plane is arriving or taking off, airport officials close the gates on either side and pedestrians and cars are forced to wait until the road is cleared again. When there is no air traffic, people walk across the runway to get into and out of Gibraltar. I had already crossed the airport five times without having to wait for a plane. I really wanted to see on land or take off and was really glad to have arrived at this time. The sky was also red, which made for a great photo. As I was taking the photo, a young guy started to talk to me. I knew he had been at the synagogue because I could see him from the women’s gallery. I also picked up on his accent right away: Israeli. He lives in La Linea and works at an internet gambling company in Gibraltar. He said there are about 60 Israelis working at the various companies on the rock. We chatted as we walked across the border.

Saturday morning I woke up and took a 7 am bus to Granada. We had to get off and change buses in Marbella because of a mechanical problem. Then we stopped on the highway because the new bus also had a mechanical issue – some part of the engine wasn’t hooked up properly or something. So, we had to wait for our third bus to arrive. Amazingly we were only 20 minutes late arriving at Granada.

Once there, I had Indian food with a friend for lunch and we walked around the city. He showed me some plazas I had not seen and we got tea before returning to Priego.

Saturday evening, David, his girlfriend and the Americans came over and we hung out. I spent Sunday packing, cleaning, cooking and hanging around the apartment. Our internet hasn’t been working and we’re not really sure what’s going on…we need to cancel it soon (Cecilia called), but we don’t know if the company canceled it on us or if they’re just having technical issues.