The biggest monument or site to behold as yet....Rock of Gibraltar. Quirky place where one might spend a couple days on a history lesson. Best to Wik it, but here's some historical relevance. It's a Brit colony..defended, opened, closed, and evacuated through history....since 1400s. The principality/town resembles closest thing to a Pirates of the Caribbean set ...more so than any Caribbean island we've been to! Bristling with ramparts and gunports.   We expect to do three things:   1) stand at the southernmost tip of Europe - Point Europa 2) ride the Cable Car to the top and walk through old military installations..taking in the view of Spain/Portugal/Africa.   3) see the Barbary Apes, or as Lyn believes I intend..... to feed them and risk getting fined L500 or bitten.  

We cross the border on foot at La Linea and jump on one of the Brit style double decker buses just like Rick Steves advises, but find his book is wrong . The double decker is Bus #10 and only goes 5 minutes into town. The driver boots us off. So we eat the 10e paid for the 5 unlimited passes and wait to buy another 10e fare on Bus #3 to Point Europa.   We arrive at the windswept Point to find it deserted. Don't the tour buses know what they're missing? There is a 19th cent. working lighthouse, a mosque erected by King Fahd, and sheer cliffs with a promenade. We watch dozens of huge tanker/cargo ships waiting to enter the Mediterranean. In fact, one has just sunk off the Point and there is a salvage operation going on. We read the plaques, take some pictures, eat a packed lunch and jump back on the #3 bus that returns again in 30 minutes to go back to the cable car.

We discuss taking a taxi tour or the cable car. The guidebooks lean taxi, but we wisely chose CABLE CAR!! We buy 5 tickets w/ 50e cash at the booth. No credit cards. The guidebooks also advise to pick up British Pounds (L), but we haven't found a bank machine working. The booth attendant swears we can buy passes to other sites up on the Rock ( St. Michaels Cave/Siege Tunnels-Museum )   for L8 ea. via credit card  once we reach the summit gift shop .   We take the swinging cable ride to the top in 6 minutes. Spectacular scenery. Immediately off , we are overrun w/ the Barbary Apes. Great fun watching their cunning personalities. Especially the babies. Great photos and views...Africa's Rif Mountains look so close.    Two events to mention on top: 1) Now the gift shop attendant says she can't take credit cards. She rips us on purchase of 3 postcards, two souvenir " Rocks" and a resin snowglobe.  L28 or 48e. Bad exchange rate.    2) Them Apes know how to unzip things. I put our backpack down playfully and one grabs for a water bottle. No harm. I put it down again and as if he knew what was there...unzips a pocket and finds a treasure trove of Crystal Light OTG flavored water sticks. I mean a dozen of them..Lemonade, Red Tea & Orange. Jenny tries to pull the backpack away, but he holds on and rifles them out. Lyn is embarrassed as Barbary Apes are running around the observation deck tearing open Crystal Light sticks and dumping the white sweet powder in their faces like pixie sticks. Got some great pictures. No fine.

We run out of time and money to catch the other sites which would have required a walk half-way down. We take a late cable car at 6 pm and arrive at bottom ready to find some gelato and a beer. Come across the Trafalgar cemetary on way into town. Very interesting burial ground for the British sailors who died in various battles between 1705 and 1812..specifically those with Admiral Nelson. Very overgrown and oddly unnoticeable, but worth the visit if into history. Back on Main Street.....1st merchant...credit card machine is down. 2nd merchant - ATM is down. Finally a Barclays Bank. I put our ATM card in and it jams up....then KEEPS the card!!   I call our bank and they have no idea why...nor can they help. They advise I return the next day and demand our card back.   Right!   We hit two more Pubs/restaurants, but they also have credit card machine problems and confirm no place in Gibraltar takes AMEX. We decide to get off the Rock as we came aboard w/ 130e and can't get served any further.

Last note...we get to see the fabled Worlds-Only active airport runway-pedestrian street. A Monarch Air jet is landing and as we are preparing to walk across the runway to the border, RAF patrol stops us and sends everyone scurrying back behind a barrier. Felt like a Cold War spy exchange as they let those in Spain cross over while we held up after the jet went roaring by. I try to bribe one of the girls to run off down the runway w/ arms outstretched making airplane noises, but they are too annoyed to find me funny.   First bar/cafe in Spain we walk in....I plunk down our Visa...and buy everyone a gelato and me a cold San Miguel.  
Great day filled with Mauro moments. Back to the Marriott Marbella where we'll do nothing tomorrow but enjoy a day by the pool.