I’m back! (you’re thrilled, I can tell). And whew, we’ve got a little catching up to do! I’ve got over 800 photos to sort through, plus 30 pages of notes in my black book…

…so let’s get to it! Here’s the plan: These updates are going to take a while, so I’ll be intermixing posts from this trip along with my current activities. If you’re accessing the Journal Entries via the London 2025+ menu grid, you’ll be able to utilize the location identifiers for each Entry, thereby focusing only on the posts from the Gibraltar / N. Africa trip, if you so choose. Hope that helps!

Tuesday, February 11 – transit from London to Gibraltar

My British Airways non-stop flight from Heathrow to Gibraltar departs at 9:25 this morning. On their website, BA states that arrival at the airport should be no more than two hours before departure. Well, I took that to be a misprint, thinking they really meant at least two hours before. I was wrong.

Based on my incorrect assumption, I decided to take the first SL9 bus available this morning – at 5:45. And it was surprisingly crowded at this time of day. After arriving Heathrow at around 6:30, I had some lingering to do, since I couldn’t check-in and drop off my bag until 7:25. Oh well.

I was aboard an fully-loaded A320 for the 2 1/2 hour flight. And I think I mentioned last year that these BA flights have zero legroom! The cost of the flight was $206 (including a checked bag).

My hotel is about a 15 minute walk from the airport. And the route to get there is the craziest I’ve experienced…

I spent the rest of the day doing my thing: roaming. In this case, mainly in the city center.

Wednesday, February 12 – Gibraltar

Today I’ll be exploring the Gibraltar Nature Reserve. It covers over 40% of Gibraltar’s land area; essentially the upper part of the Rock.

There are four entry points to the Reserve. I’ll be starting at The Pillars of Hercules, adjacent to the Mediterranean Steps. The walk from my hotel to the Steps took about an hour.

Here are a few views from my walk…

The Pillars of Hercules represent Gibraltar’s ties to Greek mythology – namely the 12 labors of Hercules. According to legend, Hercules passed through here to take the cattle of Geryon – his tenth labor – and opened the strait, creating the pillars which received his name.

The Steps were built by the British as part of the military communications system that allowed access to their various defense fortifications at the southern end of the Rock.

I don’t think the Steps are very popular, or well known. I didn’t see anyone else during my hour on the trail. It was a rather arduous trek, with steep elevation gains. The temperature was only in the upper 50s, but I was sweating like crazy during the ascent (while wearing shorts and a long-sleeved t-shirt)!

Here are few photos from the trail…

This was a fun, challenging hike. With great views!

My next stop is St. Micheal’s Cave. The cave is one of Gibraltar’s top tourist attractions, so I didn’t spend a huge amount of time there! Here are a few pictures…

Saw this as I walked along the Reserve…

Next stop: The Great Siege Tunnels are a series of tunnels inside the northern end of the Rock of Gibraltar. They were dug out from the solid limestone by the British during the Great Siege of Gibraltar of the late 18th century.

During World War II, Gibraltar became a crucial stronghold. Beneath its surface, an extensive network of tunnels was carved into the limestone, creating an underground city. These tunnels stored essential resources, maintained military equipment, and housed a garrison of soldiers prepared for a prolonged siege. They also provided a strategic advantage, allowing for surveillance of enemy movements in the Strait of Gibraltar and beyond.

Fun Fact: The tunnels of Gibraltar were constructed over the course of nearly 200 years, principally by the British Army. Within a land area of only 2.6 square miles, Gibraltar has around 34 miles of tunnels, nearly twice the length of its entire road network!

Construction of the Moorish Castle commenced in the 8th century AD, the date of its completion is not recorded. Its walls enclosed a considerable area, reaching down from the upper part of the Rock of Gibraltar to the sea. The most conspicuous remaining parts of the Castle are the upper tower, or Tower of Homage, together with various terraces and battlements below it.

This was a (reasonably, more below) fun day! I enjoy exploring these type of areas on foot. Ended up with close to 27k steps today. Nice!

Today’s negative experience relates to the fact that the cable cars that service the Rock were down for maintenance. It didn’t directly impact me, because I wasn’t planning on using them anyway. However, a lot of tourists do rely on them, so instead had to use taxis. This resulted in the roads of the Reserve being flooded with vehicles, which wasn’t always a pleasant experience for pedestrians like me. Another item to had to my list of reasons for disdain of taxi drivers!

Gibraltar Airport

Apparently, the Gibraltar Airport is infamous for it’s tricky approach due to ‘The Rock’ protruding over 400m into the air directly next to the runway. It’s a notoriously windy destination anyway, but when the wind is from the south it can become extremely dangerous as it curls around the rock and the airport is engulfed in unpredictable and unstable winds. In addition, the runway is relatively short, with water on both ends. It’s such a challenging airport that pilots have to go through special training to be able to land here, and only a select few are able to operate these flights.

Gibraltar Facts

• A British Territory (I thought it was part of Spain, until Tony enlightened me!)
• Although a part of the U.K., they drive on the right with LHD vehicles (probably due to the proximity to Spain)
• The tap water is drinkable
• Language is English (and Spanish)
• Currency is British Pound