Monkey mania

13 April 2008

Gibraltar

A somewhat short day so a somewhat short post, plus I’m typing this standing up and I have sore feet. It may have been a short day but it was a fun one.

Another late finish followed by an early start for safety training and I was chugging a can of coke on my way out of the ship in order to stay awake long enough to see Gibraltar. I’d asked the only Englishman in the casino what I should do, see and buy and his suggestion was to have a full English breakfast, walk up the rock to see the monkeys, buy something with a monkey on it and then come back to the ship.

We had an early sail, so time was an issue, and I figured that his suggestion was a good one. In the end it was a good one, except maybe for the walking up the rock part.

But first breakfast. Being a Sunday there was very little open when I walked into town from the ship, and I couldn’t find an ATM to get any pounds, but eventually I did find a pub that was open, had “full English breakfast” on the menu and was willing to take a credit card to pay for it. I grabbed a seat at a table outside, settled down with a cup of tea and waited for my heart attack on a plate to arrive. When I did get it I wasn’t disappointed, it had everything that I was looking forward to. Baked beans, mushrooms, black pudding, tomato, eggs, bacon, sausages and toast to wipe up the residual grease. With a meal like that and the accents of the staff I could easily have been at any pub in England proper rather than a literal stone’s throw from Spain. So far a good start to the day and the ideal energy boost to get me up the rock. None of this healthy stuff, fat is the true breakfast of champions.

I pored over the little tourist map I’d picked up, found a walking path that supposedly led to the top of the rock, oriented myself to the street I was on and headed off.

I found the first lot of steps up with words cleverly painted on the risers so that when I looked upwards I could see “Monkeys” and an arrow pointing the way. The steps started off easily enough but soon the trail became a track of overgrown gravel that clung to the side of the hill. It may have felt a little precarious at times but it did offer magnificent views down towards the harbour and across the border into Spain.

I kept walking, hopeful of, and also a little fearful of, a chance encounter with one of the famous Gibraltar apes and eventually emerged from the undergrowth to find myself on the edge of a well maintained road watching a taxi full of comfortable looking tourists zip past. I turned uphill after the taxi and started walking. By now it was getting more than a little warm and my breakfast had settled into all the cracks and crevices inside and was a solid ball pressing against all sorts of internal organs. I looked a little longingly at the taxis going past but resolved to keep walking and in the end I was glad I did.

Further up the road and I came upon a lookout that was literally crawling with apes. There were big ones and little ones and they were laying on the seats, climbing the fences and even posing for the tourists with a half cynical “yes I know I’m cute” glint in their eyes. I swear that some of them know that they are a major drawcard and they would just strike a pose showing off their best side and hold it until everyone had gotten the shot. It was fearlessness that comes from long exposure and a surety in their position. That being said, the little ones are as cute as the dickens.

I kept going along the road past various groups of apes with various groups of tourists and eventually made my way to a large monument explaining the future and past interpretations of the Pillars of Hercules. It had a great view out to the ocean and it was a strange thing to be able to stand in Europe and have Africa so close that it looked like little more than an offshore island. It also nicely book ended Istanbul where I was able to stand in Europe and see Asia on the other side of a short stretch of water.

In another strange reflection the posing behaviour of the apes was mirrored by two Russian couples where the girls were wrapping themselves around the safety railing for their boyfriend’s cameras. Oh, how far we’ve come.

From the heights of the Rock I walked downhill, eventually passing the cable car station and heading back into town. I had to buy a fridge magnet and I don’t know if it was the effect of the baked beans or the sausages but I also bought a monkey. It is one of those stuffed types with the extra long arms that you can wrap around your neck and secure the hands together with Velcro. I guess nothing says tourist like walking around with a stuffed monkey hanging off your backpack. The fact that it makes monkey noises when you squeeze it came as a bit of a surprise but is bound to continue to remind me of Gibraltar for a long time as it howls every time I roll onto it in my sleep.