#66 A day trip to Great Britain

February 5, 2022: Gibraltar

F. The excitement is building. Do we have everything ready for our day trip? Food, drink, mask, phone, wallet - everything is there... wait, something is missing! Our passport! You're wondering why do we need a passport? They are only traveling within the EU. Not quite. Today we went to the United Kingdom of Great Britain - or rather to Gibraltar. Since we didn't know how strict the border controls would be, we decided to bring our passport just in case. We obediently stood in line with the other waiting people and passed by the border officer who checked our IDs. He just took a quick look at our passports and waved his finger to the left. We were allowed to pass. Clearly, we had worried too much in advance. Everyone around us only showed their ID card. So apparently it works without a passport too.

Shortly after the passport control, we encountered the first highlight of Gibraltar. To reach the peninsula, you have to cross the runway of the airport. Not only pedestrians have to cross the runway, but also cars. The runway is only separated from pedestrians and cars by a barrier during air traffic. Fortunately, the air traffic in Gibraltar is not that busy, so only two or three planes land or take off per day.

'Airfield ahead. No stopping.'

After crossing the runway, we walked through the city. We quickly noticed that apparently the coronavirus was left behind at the border or at least the Spanish measures. Not a single person in the crowded shopping street or in the stores was wearing a mask. It became particularly British when a British military brigade marched through the city with bagpipes and drums to symbolically hand over the keys of the city to the governor.

Gibraltar has an area of 6.5 square kilometers, nearly 35,000 inhabitants, and most of the island is occupied by a more than 400-meter-high rock. On the rock, there lives one of the last wild Barbary macaque colonies in Europe. It is not quite clear whether the monkeys have always lived there or whether they were once settled there. In any case, the saying goes that as long as the monkeys live here, the British will rule Gibraltar. The monkeys besiege paths, walls, and other areas where they see a chance to steal food from tourists.

After passing the monkeys, we climbed the 400 meters up the mountain and at the top, there was a spectacular view of Spain and Morocco. So we not only saw two more countries but also two different continents. You don't see that every day...

On the way back to the city, we made a short stop at the tunnel system from World War II. This nearly 50 km long tunnel system was carved into the rock by the British during World War II and served as a hospital, storage facility, residential area, and much more...

To make the British excursion complete, we had a portion of fish and chips in the evening.

Day 113 - Total tour: 7,221 km

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