Algeciras and Gibraltar: Nathan

Funny thing about night trains, you sleep on them. I did that a little too well and missed my stop in Cordoba and ended up in Malaga. And a funny thing about Malaga, their train station is called Maria Zambrano or something like that, it took me forever to figure out it was Malaga. So, I booked the next train back to Cordoba and luckily would get there in time to get THE train to Algeciras. The original plan was to stay in Cordoba and use my 3 hour layover to find a hostel, but with my little goof, my layover shrunk and was dominated by breakfast.

Algeciras itself is an interesting place. It has a very unique blend of cultures. There's the Spanish, then there's a French and Muslim influence from Morocco, and last there's all the Brits coming across from Gibraltar itself. Upon arrival, I learned there's a bus across the bay to La Linea that takes half an hour or so. The train back to Cordoba left in an hour, so I made an executive decision to stay in Algeciras and proceeded to the tourism office to ask about hostels. They gave me a map and a list and I chose the cheapest one on there, also great because it was a 5 minute walk to the train station. Private room for 12 Euro isn't bad at all as well.

I reshuffled everything and then proceeded to catch the bus to La Linea. We drove around the bay with the Rock of Gibraltar seemingly always in sight. It kind of dominates everything. Upon arrival, I had to walk into Gibraltar. First time I had ever walked across an international border. Also, as simple as flashing a passport, not even my picture, it could have been a crappy book with a passport cover. The first thing you get to on the British side is the airport. The runway crosses the road, so when A plane is landing, they shut the road down, and that was an interesting experience. A long walk later, and I was in the heart of Gibraltar. More English than I had heard in awhile, and lots of fish and chips places. But the whole point was to climb the rock, so continue I did.

I was considering walking up the rock on the roads, but I found the cable car lift instead and decided after all the walking to there and the walking I'd do up top, I could use the time to rest. The view was amazing from the cable car. I could see back into Algeciras and across the strait into Morocco. Once at the top, there were north and south outlooks at the main building that I took in for quite some time (pics on Facebook). Then I finally decided to walk around. The monkeys up there are supposed to be cool. It wasn't long before I ran into several. It looked like they had just been fed because they were all together chomping away at various fruits and vegetables. I read that they are given about half their daily nutritional needs and that forces them to find the rest themselves and not bother people as much. Smart thinking. I continued on, up rock stairs to old looking and deteriorating military structures, mostly foxholes and small one room buildings, and eventually got to a point where the British military put up barbed wire and said don't go any further. I met an Italian named Alessi (I think) who had a job in Gibraltar, which would explain the great English with the not-quite-British accent to it. He had walked up the rock in flip flops, crazy if you ask me. We walked back toward the main building, somewhere he hadn't been, and stopped to observe the monkeys more. While there, they started fighting over something only the monkeys understand and I caught a video. We stopped back at the main building for more pictures, then more monkeys, and then took the cable car back down.

Walking back toward Spain, we talked a little and I told him about the trip. He said he might be in Italy when we are and could show us around Rome, so we exchanged information. I await an email.

After a bus ride back and a long shower, it was time to search for dinner. Another cultural difference between Algeciras and the rest of Spain is that stuff closes early. I regretted not stopping for fish and chips and ended up just having two apples. Most nutritious dinner I've ever eaten. Woke up the next day and caught the 8:30 to Madrid.

Best executive decision ever.