Tricia24 and myself recently went holidaying on the Costa del Sol (An op will be written soon)! Whilst on holiday we decided to do a spot of sight seeing and took a day trip to the Rock of Gibraltar.
Our hotel was selling excursions for the following prices: Day trip to Gibraltar 15 Euros Day trip to Gibraltar, plus lunch 30 Euros. As many of you may know by now Tricia24 and myself always look out for a bargain on our hols and “Yes” we found another one! Heading into “Fuengirola” the nearest town to where we were staying we found a place that sold excursions and got a bargain trip to Gibraltar for only 10Euros each! It just shows you it saves to look around, we didn’t have to pay up front either, we could pay on the day and the coach picked us up from the hotel!
From Fuengirola the trip took 2 and half hours to get to Gibraltar but leaving at 8.25am it still meant you had a full day of sightseeing. The bus company we went with called Florida run by a man called Miffy and his wife. They were such a lovely couple full of information about the country the whole drive; they even gave us sweets for the journey and information sheets.
On arrival to Gibraltar you have to firstly go through passport control! PLEASE REMEMBER YOUR PASSPORT! Gibraltar is not part of Spain it is owned by the British so a check of passports has to be done before you enter; both Spanish and Gibraltan police check your passports.
Gibraltar is situated on the
southern Europe and links the Mediterranean and the north Atlantic oceans of the coast of Spain; it has a population of 27,833 (Est. July 2004). Gibraltar has been a British territory since 1704 and is part of the subject of many conquests and sieges. It has been part of the EU since 1973.
Currency:
There are 3 types of currency that you can use in Gibraltar:
English Money: I advise that you use this because you get the best deals.
Gibraltan Money: I advise you against this, you can only use it in Gibraltar, and it is not valid any where else so you don’t want have lots left over.
Euros: You can use euros but I think you get stung with the exchange rate.
Word of advice always ask for your change in sterling because they will try and give Gibraltan money otherwise!
How to get about:
Coach Trips: There are various coach trips that you can book to take you around the island, they are around £15 per person, but you limited to a certain time, which isn’t always a good thing when you are wanting to explore.
Taxi: This is the mode we chose and I highly recommend it! £14 or 28 Euros per person, this includes entrance to both the caves and the tunnels. The other good thing is you pay at the end of the tour. We were very lucky as our taxi driver was from Gibraltar and was full of information about the Rock.
Cable Car: you can get the cable car to the top of the rock it costs £7 return and £6 for single. This does not include your entrance to the Caves or the Tunnels so you’ll end up paying the same as a taxi ride, but you will have a 20min walk to the caves and 55min walk to the Tunnels. Also be warned the Cable Car is very steep and often shut due to wind.
What is there to do?
* St Michaels Caves: At the top of the rock you will find the natural taverns. One of the Caves is so big that they have built a 400-seated auditorium in side it where they hold classical orchestral concerts. You have to see it to believe it. It is beautiful inside, hundreds of stalagmites and stalactites. The lighting that has been arranged to show the caves off impressed me. It was very subtle and in no way detracted the attention away from the wondrous sight!
· Dolphin Watching: Trips are available for you to go out on a boat and see the bottle nosed dolphins in their natural environment. The trip costs around £15 for 1 and a half hours. We gave it a miss this time around as I had already done a similar trip in Tenerife!
· Bird watching: For the bird lovers amongst you Gibraltar is home to over 200 species of birds. Many birds are found here because Gibraltar is the narrowest crossing point from Europe to Africa when birds are migrating.
· Botanical Gardens: The Gardens opened in 1816 and they are host to a magnificent array of botanical plants from Atlantic Islands, South Africa, Far East, Australia and Californian. We did not visit the gardens because we did not have time, but it sounds like it is defiantly worth a visit if you like that sort of thing.
· The Great Siege Tunnels: The sieges in the 18th century lead to a network of tunnels being excavated in the rock to allow cannons to be hidden. The cannons used to defend Gibraltar were the first to ever fire downwards. The tunnels run 32 miles across but only some of this is accessible to the public. We did explore the tunnels on our visit and we found it very interesting, Trcia24 was very interested in the history of the tunnels so it was a good choice!
· The Apes: Gibraltar is famous for it’s Barbary Apes, they have 300 on the rock at present and they are the only apes in Europe allowed to roam free. Our taxi driver told us about the stories of why the Apes are on the rock; one of the stories says that the Apes came from South Africa; they traveled over to Gibraltar because they found an underground tunnel and walked under the sea. A tunnel has never been found. The more likely reason is that 6 Apes were originally brought over on a ship and the rest is history. The people of Gibraltar help to look after the apes and spend 14,000 a year and fruit and veg for them. When the Apes start to become over populated they send them into Europe to help prevent them becoming extinct. So far they have sent Apes to Portugal and Germany. To keep a track of the apes all of them are marked, christened (Although they are no practicing) and named after famous English and Gibraltan people.
Advice on the apes:
1/ Do not eat food near the Apes; although they are fed they will still go for you if you eat near them. 2/ Do not feed the Apes. 3/ Do not try to touch a baby Ape; they are very protective over their young. 4/ Do not open your bag near an Ape they will assume you have food.
If you follow the advice given then you will be fine, we never had any problems with the apes, they are fairly tame, some brave people were touching them and sitting really close to them to take pictures. I am not so brave so when I get my pic’s back you’ll see me with an Ape a few feet away.
Shopping:
This is the place to come for shopping because it is tax and vat free! Your allowance is 200 Cigarettes per person or 50 cigars or 250g of Tobacco. You are then allowed I think it’s 1.5 liters of alcohol. On top of this you are allowed to spend £120 per person on all other goods and £60 per child all other goods! Be warned you have to go through customs on the way back and they check your bags and the transport you came in on. If you have over the above you will be taxed for it. They are very strict and you should only carry you personal allowance through customs for example, we were told of a man who tried to take 800 cigarettes through for his party of 4, but customs works per person and because the other people did not carry them through themselves he ended up paying tax.
Cigarettes are very cheap indeed I bought 200 Marlborough lights for £11.70. I also bought a bottle of Martini Rosso for 5 Euros. Perfume is also reasonable I bought a bottle of Jean Paul Goutier for £26 instead of its usual £40.
All the shops are situated on the main street called “Main Street”, it is the main point of Gibraltar and one you can miss easily. Gibraltar has many English shops such as BHS, marks and Spencer’s, Top shop, Dorothy Perkins and Burton; I have to say we did not find them cheaper, priced about the same really.
Special tips from Miffy!
As I mentioned in the begging of this review our coach leader gave us some very helpful information sheets I am going to share some of this useful info with you now!
· Stag bros: Best place for cigarettes; also carry a large selection of alcohol. · Norwich and Peterborough Building Society: Only place to with draw English Notes! · Sacarello’s: Best coffee in Gibraltar turn right at Barclays Bank. · The Carpenters Arms; A Methodist Church Café run by volunteers, all profits go to charity.
Just to some up, Gibraltar was a great day trip we spent 5 hours on the rock and saw plenty, I recommend this place as a day trip, I think you’d get bored after one or two days. Hope you have enjoyed this op and find it of use LizzieX
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This is somewhere I have never thought about going before
eve6kicksass 24.11.2004 11:23
Sounds like a great holiday spot. I miss going on vacation, though I'm more determined than ever in getting my Bachelor's Degree before I do anything else. Excellent op here!!! Chris xxx
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We propose some unforgettable holidays in "El Capistrano Villages", in Nerja, the privileged balcony of the Costa del Sol. "El Capistrano Villages" is, possibly, the most beautiful and exclusive Urbanisation on the Costa del Sol.
Aug 5th, 2004
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