Wiggled our way through the town of Gibraltar to the end of the road or at least to the place where the guard said to turn around. Told the guard that we wanted to walk to the top and he gave us a strange look. Oh yes, English is the local dialect since it still is part of the empire. After parking the car in the free parking, always down the hill, we returned and purchased our one Euro walking passes.
The ticket seller reiterated the strangeness of our request but sold us the tickets anyway.




Started our journey up a little shaded trail behind a gentleman walking his dogs. I asked him if we were on the right path and he confirmed that we could get to the top on this path. He then proceeded to explain the difficulty of the trail. He said he had to stop walking it a number of years ago. I think he used the term, a tough go. About then a triathlete in training hustled by. At that point I became determined.

It was a beautiful and dramatic walk through verdant wildflowers and shrubbery on one side and a cliff on the other. Peggy loved it. They even had helpful ropes to assist you in your climb up the stairs much like Half Dome in Yosemite. We were only passed by a couple of other guys belonging to the British Royal Marines. I kept looking for some group behind with a parasol and had no such luck. Did I mention that the sun was out and the Mediterranean was blue?

Did I mention that after completing the hike that we found these signs that were full of dire warnings.
Nonetheless, we did it and climbed the rock of Gibraltar.

Actually, Gibraltar is one of the few places in the world where you can see two continents and two seas at the same time. It is good that Hercules was here a while ago to name the place as the Pillars. The other pillar is a mountain in Morocco, 15 miles away. Lots of boat traffic and many old gun emplacements from WWII.

Finally, Peggy dragged me to the top which is covered with barb wire and electronic stuff. We then proceeded down the road where we started to encounter tourists. After a kilometer or so we ran into the tourist vans filled with photo snapping folks. Kind of like going onto the valley floor in Yosemite after a visit to the backcountry. Much to our delight the apes or actually monkeys were there to greet us and provided great entertainment. Not sure who is the better looking ape.

Peggy would have got closer if we had some peanut butter to put on her hand. Would have been a great picture. I wonder if the Queen posed with the monkey?

Tried to eat lunch in Gibraltar but the parking machines only took pounds. We gave up after almost getting stuck a couple of times on pedestrian only streets. Enjoyed the tie up at the border crossing back into Spain. Found our delightful Hostal near the beach in Tarifa. Little private patio will get used tonight.

Into Tarifa for lunch at 3PM. Place is full of sunburned English. That is something since the sun has only been out a few hours in the last week. Tarifa is named after Tarif abu Something who landed here with his merry men in 711 and proceeded to turn Spain Muslim. Walked around a bit and then stopped into a supermarket before heading back. Fruit, salad, Jambon sandwich, dark chocolate and wine is all we need for a restful evening.

Those are windmills, not the Don Quixote kind, and kites over the Atlantic.