Gibraltar

 

Gibraltar is only 2 ½ square miles and has 34,000 inhabitants with no water, agriculture, minerals or factories. But it has served as a strategic fortress and naval shipyard for most of its history. This was the first foothold for the Arabs on the European continent. The Spaniards drove the Arabs out, and later the British took it from Spain during the War of Spanish Succession. The military post was significantly downsized in 1980. The tax laws were changed to encourage the growth of the financial sector, the number 1 industry, followed by the ship services (refueling primarily) and then tourism.

St. Michael's Cave

We stopped at the lighthouse on the southern shore to see the African coast, then began climbing the rock to St. Michael’s cave. The bottomless pit of the cave drops 700 feet. The cave has its name from the rock formation that looks like an angel. Then we entered a large chamber that was used as a hospital during World War II, but now serves as a theater because of the acoustics.

Nee and monkey

Gibraltar has about 300 Barbary Macaque monkeys probably brought here by the Moors from the Barbary coast. During World War II the Monkey’s failed to reproduce, probably from the stress of all military construction during that time. Rumor had it that Great Britain would fall if the Gibraltar monkeys died off, so Churchill imported monkeys to fortify the population.

Cannon battery in the Siege Tunnels

We visited the Great Siege Tunnels. La Linea is the Spanish city just beyond the airport. This was the line that the cannons could reach from here. From 1779 to 1783, the Spanish and French armies and navies laid siege to Gibraltar. Fearful that the enemy could sneak across the line along the causeway, the British dug a tunnel through the rock to reach a shelf from where they could place cannon to protect the causeway. As they dug, they placed their first cannon about halfway to the ledge, then proceeded to dig underneath the ledge realizing that they would be protected from return fire if they placed their cannon within the limestone rock. During World War II, the Allies dug over 34 miles of tunnels, roads, and hospitals within the Rock. Hitler made a strategic error by not taking Gibraltar before opening the Russian Front. Gibraltar became a major transport harbor for supplying Great Britain and the headquarters for attacking North Africa.

That night we were entertained by the Corinthian Spice Boys Band.