Gibraltar is one of the Pillars of Hercules, one of two (or three, people can’t decide which mountain on the African side is the second pillar) that guard the entrance to the Mediterranean from the Atlantic. Britain holds one, Gibraltar in Europe. The Moroccans hold one on the African Side as to the Spanish with their enclave Ceuta on the North African Coast. Gibraltar may be a Pillar of Hercules, but it is also ‘the rock.’ There are lots of ‘rocks’ in the world. Kodiak, Sitka and Newfoundland all call their islands ‘the rock’ and have a certain distain for ‘rocks’ connected to the mainland. But everyone gives Gibraltar a pass. For centuries it’s been ‘the rock.’

The Captain opened the bow for a morning sail in.

Gibraltar is an anglicization of Jebel (hill of) Tariq. The moors named it when they held it for several hundred years. The British took it at the beginning of the 18th century during the War of Spanish Succession and have held it ever since. Local Gibraltarians speak an English laced with Spanish and Genoese Italian which the British, in their colonial sensitivity, called “Gibberish.” While the Brits have given Gibraltarians every reason to feel the “Colonial Cringe” they still very much want to remain British and have twice by over 90% margins rejected a change in Gibraltar’s sovereign status. Once they rejected Spain and once a proposal for joint Spanish/British sovereignty.

For a while the Spanish blockaded the border, meaning that Gibraltar brought in workers from Morocco. After Britain joined the EU the border opened and about 15,000 Spaniards work in the British territory. Now with Brexit things are getting more complicated. Britain and Spain are trying to negotiate an agreement where there is a soft border that allows free transit. So far, they have a temporary fix. But Gibraltarians, while voting against Brexit, are adamant, they are part of Britain.

One thing that works in Britain’s favor is the monkeys. Gibraltar has the only monkey population remaining in Europe. They are called Barbary Apes but are really macaque monkeys. They look apish because they do not appear to have tails. They do but they are only a few millimeters long, easy to lose in the monkey’s hair. Legend and Tradition have it that as long as the monkeys remain on ‘the rock’ Britain will remain in control. During the Second World War, Churchill is said to have imported North African monkeys as reinforcements to make sure the Gibraltar population remained strong. While the species is listed as threatened in North Africa, the four troops of monkeys on the rock are healthy, growing and are both a nuisance to Gibraltarians and an attraction to tourists.

We took a taxi tour of Gibralter, traveling to St. Michael’s Cave, a natural cave in ‘the rock’ what has been made into a theater and light show tourist attraction.

The tour also took us to several overlooks where we could see ‘the rock’ and Africa. The taxi driver said that Gibraltar keeps growing. They have hired the Dutch to create new land on which to put more housing, hotels and port facilities. He says if they are not careful Gibraltar is in danger of becoming the new Monaco. Gibraltar does have a casino and is an international ‘offshore’ hub for online gambling.

We had the taxi drop us off at the far end of town from the dock and we walked the high street stopping to get some necessities in this duty free port, including a new camera SD card and different drug store items that we were running low on. Gibraltar is a good place to look for bargains, but crew members we knew were suffering from sticker shock. Their salaries at Holland America are denominated in dollars and since April 2 the dollar has fallen considerably against both the pound and euro. While we could eat the difference caused by the exchange rate change, it hurt some of them.

At the ship end of the high street Suzi and I enjoyed a pizza. We had had really good pizza in Gibraltar 12 years ago and wanted to see if it was still as good. I am not sure if it is, but it’s certainly better than Holland America’s pizza. Pizza is one thing that this cruise line does not do to my taste. I like thinner crust more oregano and a little less (ok a lot less) sweetness in the tomato sauce than Holland provides.

We had clear skies for sail out past Europa Point and into the Med on our way to Barcelona.