When you mention "The Rock" to any North American and you will normally conjure up images of Alcatraz Prison- do the same thing in Europe and I suspect that the immediate image is that of Gibraltar. Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory that was ceded to Britain "in perpetuity" by Spain in 1713 and although Spain continues to try and regain the land, the overtures have been soundly rejected in two recent referendums (and unbeknownst to the Spaniards, the Brits seem to have taken over most of the rest of their Mediterranean coastline as well).

Standing guard over the Strait of Gibraltar, the Rock has always been a strategic location, perhaps most famously during WWII when it drove the Germans to distraction- during the war, Gibraltar's civilian population was evacuated and the Rock was strengthened as a fortress. It took a pounding but was never conquered by the Germans.

In terms of attractions, this is one of those places that we thought was an ideal cruise ship destination because you could probably see everything of interest in one day. The significant downside is that you are visiting with thousands of fellow cruisers who want to see all of the same things you do, and the human flood does seem to change the local dynamic as well so you aren't getting a particularly authentic experience. Even the notorious Barbary Apes seemed somewhat subdued by the invasion (although perhaps they didn’t see us given the camouflage safari gear cruisers have a tendency to wear), although they did relieve a couple of girls of their potato chip bags (on a personal note- despite their vicious reputation, if they had tried taking potato chips away from me, they would have experienced a new brand of screeching & teeth gnashing).

We did see everything we wanted to see and even enjoyed chilling in the main square as most of the cruisers seemed to rush back for lunch but I can certainly see where cruising is something of a fast food version of travel.