A day like this, you should have!! We’re in a new Holiday Inn Express Hotel, which is lovely – it’s new and very comfortable, with only one glitch – we’re out in the boonies. A car would be a bonus in this situation – so we headed into Algerciras (pron. Ahl-ha-thayrass) by bus. At 9:30 it was already 29 degrees! We had a lovely chat with two Spanish residents at the bus stop. With our limited language skills and their kindness we were able to exchange some basic information. Our original plan had been to take a ferry to Gibraltor (or Gib as it’s known locally), but decided to see if we could find a car to rent. The first place was an abrupt – “I have no cars, but you could try the Euro Hertz outside the port!”. Off we set again and found the place. Yeah! (and thank you to God), Hertz had a car which we’ve rented until Tuesday am. Bruce took off like a pro and we decided to drive to Gib. By the way I should tell you that when we mentioned in Sevilla, at our last hotel that we were going to Gib, the comment was, “You won’t want to spend much time there, and it’s only two streets!”) So off we went, with nary a hitch and even though it had been recommended that we park in Spain and ‘walk in’, Bruce decided to drive in. That was a good decision. It’s a long way to go if you want to do anything – we drove for another 30 min. to find the Europa High Point and cable car to the top. Then these grandparents decided that since they’d cycled in Holland, why couldn’t they walk another 3 km downhill to see the WWII caves? There are 52 km of tunnels in the Rock of Gib. They had 4 complete hospitals, fed 5000 men a day and had areas where they could drive troop trucks around – truly amazing! The Canadians were a huge help with their water pressure drill. This was all accomplished in less than 3 years. [‘Tighten that core when going downhill’ echoed in my mind from the lips of Carolyn!!!}
The cable ride was awesome (if I didn’t think about how high I was and all the things that could happen)! There are apes everywhere. Apparently Churchill had some imported from Africa and said Britain would leave Gib, when the apes left. They’re feeding them very well. They jump onto cars and on people. One swung onto Bruce’s arm, but he shook it off like it was a flea! We felt like we were in some weird game – Avoid the Apes! In fact it made “The Planet of the Apes” look like a picnic. Some people have been scratched or hurt by them. You have to hide all food and drink. Plus there is a 500 Pound fine if you’re caught feeding them. It was exhilarating and tiring! We were very hot and tired, but made it back to our car in about 2.5 hours!
How did we get here? Well we came via a bus from Sevilla (2.5 hours). The heat is quite horrendous! We look longingly at the temperatures from Winnipeg! We will actually be so glad for cooler weather. It is nice to get into a car and crank that A/C to high. What wimps we are.
So, last night we decided that since it was Friday pm and we had nowhere to go, we’d go to another movie. We chose Captain America and low and behold it was actually in Spanish!!!! Fortunately, there was so much action that not understanding the language was not a big problem. That’s a first for us – even in Costa Rica, movies were in English with Spanish subtitles.
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