Gibraltar: Key West of the Mediterranean
Today we took the short walk from Linea de la Concepcion (Spain) to Gibraltar (English Territory).
We started to wander the small sleepy isle when we met Lionel, a stocky English fellow who spoke perfect Spanish with a Spaniard’s accent. He asked if we needed a tour guide and we both agreed we did.
He started by telling us about Admiral Nelson and how he won Gibraltar back for the English and how he washed up on shore picked in a barrel of whiskey.
On the island, there is a roaming band, 232 in total, of Barbary Macaques. He took us to their feeding point where he had a baby macaques, lured by a piece of apple, jump on my head.
The small island boasts the smallest airport, or at least the shortest runway, according to the Guinness book of world records. It works likes a train track except that it's an enormous plane.
He also showed us where the beginning sequence of the 1987 James Bond Movie, The Living Daylights [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093428/] was filmed in the back roads of the isle and told us how the boat used for the filming of the 1962 classic, Mutiny on the Bounty [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056264/] with Marlon Brando was filmed, which was coincidentally docked there at the time of our visit before heading to the Caribbean.
Also, he took us to the intricate network of caves that honey comb through the mountain. Lionel said it runs 34 miles long but once you see the first couple hundred meters, you've seen one cave, you've seen them all.
The view points are spectacular and we can see the coast of Morocco from the Pillars of Hercules. Lionel says the we were quite lucky because it's usually too foggy to see across the straight.
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He quickly replied “Fish and Chips, and the best is served at Roy’s” so we parted ways and went on our hunt.
The town reminds of me of an English version of Key West. The main street is a lot like Duval Street in Key West, for those of you who have been … which I imagine is a lot like what Bourbon Street is like in New Orleans, to which I haven’t been.
We walk a little ways and fear we may be lost so we stop to ask a quite cheeky fellow how to get there. He ponders for a moment and proceeds to give us directions. I thank him and we are on our way but then I stop and ponder why his directions included passing 5 pubs in what he assured me was a 5 minute walk.
Once there, we over estimate our appetites and both order a “large” fish and chips and a beer. They both arrive quickly from the indifferent waitress and we are surprised to find that the servings are enormous. It looks like they take an entire fish and fillet it and fry it up in soft batter which the skin still in tact. The result is a soft sumptuous piece of fish which is so tender it comes off with a fork.
The beer my mom assures me is supposed to taste that way but the Fish definately made up for it.
The meal did seem to us a bit on the expensive side at 40ÂŁ but it was definately a treat we could not miss out on.
