Gibraltar
 
 
Day 15 of our tour. After Morocco, Gibraltar was a stimulating change of pace--for many reasons:
  • Potable water!
  • English spoken everywhere!
  • Street signs in a readable alphabet.
  • Pubs and stores selling beer, wine and spirits.
  • Impossible to get lost. (Too tiny!)
 
We spent two nights at the Caleto Palace Hotel on Catalon Bay. The bay was a busy anchorage for ships traveling though the straits. Our hotel rooms faced the sea, with balconies that overlooked the anchorage. We viewed both the shoreline and the bay from our rooms.

 
At the hotel manager's welcoming party, we were asked keep our balcony doors closed from about 7 am to sundown--because a rogue group of barbary apes had broken off from the main pack and were foraging around the hotel. They were not dangerous, but if the mischievous creaures got into our rooms, they were likely to carry off any items that caught their interest.

As the manager spoke, an ape peered down at our gathering. We didn't bother having a second glass of wine at the reception. Instead, nearly all of us scurried off to close balcony doors that had been left open. (I think the manager saves on wine that way!)

 
The next day we did a "Rock Tour" and the little apes actually got INSIDE our minibus. In the pictures below, one pesty primate waits for Dot to leave the vehicle--before he and a companion try to forage inside.

 
We were cautioned about feeding the apes. Even so, at least one member of our group found a dining partner.
 
Folklore holds that Great Britain will control Gibraltar as long as the barbary apes are present on the rock. As a consequence, the apes are protected. That's one of the reasons for prohibitions against feeding them. Besides protecting the health of the animals, there's also a possibility that the apes might nip someone--or snatch jewelry, eyeglasses, etc. Until recently, the British garrison had responsibility for caring after the apes. A few years ago, that responsibility was turned over to local authorities.
 
But there is much more to Gibraltar than its colony of apes . . .
:
 

Continue to the next page.