Gibraltar is truly magnificent however you view it

Gibraltar - 17.08.2008 - Gibraltar has one airport close to the border.  The runway stretches across a main road and busy pedestrian area, which are both closed off whenever the runway is being used.  It’s an amazing experience to watch the planes literally land at your feet!  Gibraltar maintains regular flight connections to London and Madrid and if you wish to travel anywhere else Malaga airport is only 1 hour 30 minutes away.

I may have had a better view of the island than most people, from a yacht in the anchorage of La Linea (just over the border of Gibraltar), but the rock of Gibraltar is truly magnificent however you view it.  If you venture up the peak, which is a fairly high 1,396 feet, you can find the famous Gibraltar Barbary Macaques, the only wild monkeys found in Europe, along with a host of other flora and fauna.  Be careful of the monkeys however, because some seem to have a penchant for stealing handbags, cameras and anything valuable! Gibraltar’s official currency is pound sterling (perfect for avoiding terrible exchange rates) and the Gibraltar pound (although the Gibraltar pound isn’t accepted in the UK); however, the euro is unofficially accepted in Gibraltar too. English is the sole official language of Gibraltar, which is helpful to us Brits due to the fact that the majority of us, to our shame, aren’t too hot on learning other languages, but most locals also speak Spanish due to Gibraltar’s proximity to Spain.  Most Gibraltarians converse in Llanito, which is a strange mix of Andalusian Spanish and British English, as well as languages such as Maltese, Italian (Genoese), Portuguese and Haketia!

Definite places to see and go would be Casemate’s square for a leisurely afternoon lunch, or a drink and a dance after dark when the restaurants are transformed into night clubs and live music venues. 

Ocean Village is a must for eating out in the evening with a wide range of restaurants from the All Stars Sports Café, which specialises in typical American and Tex-Mex food, to Celebrity Wine Bar and Fine Dining, which is an haute cuisine style restaurant guaranteed to impress.

The High Street is great for getting all those souvenirs and presents at a cheap price to take back home to family and friends. The rock is definitely a major attraction and you will never tire of the view from the top and exploring the ruins of Moorish Castle. Around the bay of Gibraltar you will often see dolphins and whales and lots of other marine life which makes diving and snorkelling great fun and towards the South of Gibraltar there are the Botanic Gardens and Europa Point Lighthouse, which also make for good days out.

There are only five hotels in total in Gibraltar (the Continental, Queens, Eliott, Rock and Caleta hotels); therefore many tourists choose to stay in La Linea in Spain across Gibraltar’s border because there are many cheap hotels to choose from.

All in all Gibraltar has a multitude of good points; the climate is superb with the average temperature in July reaching 23°C and the average temperature in January dropping to an acceptable 13°C, the goods and services are VAT free, the heritage and history of Gibraltar is rich and diverse, so there is plenty to see and do and, as an additional bonus, Gibraltar is only a short drive from the lively Benalmádena, Málaga and Puerto Banús areas of Spain.



This article appears in the print edition 571 of Island Connections

Gallery: Holidaying on The Rock

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