Having left Seville after six great months, we motor the 60 miles down the Rio Guadalquiver back to the Atlantic Ocean. Our cruising destination for this season is primarily Greece and Turkey, so we have a reasonable distance to cover before the onset of the heat, summer's crowds, and strong northerly winds. The Mediterranean is known for too much wind or nothing at all.
It feels great to be on the move again though it will take time to get our 'sea legs' back again after being stable for so many months. It takes no time at all to remember how little our boat is out here...we always have to be on watch.
We arrive in Gibraltar, whose 2.5 square miles mark the southern most tip of Spain and the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. To the ancient Mediterranean peoples - Phoenician mariners, Gibraltar and Mount Acho at Ceuta, 25km south across the Straits of Gibraltar, were the 'Pillars of Hercules' and marked the limits of safe navigation and the known edge of the world. In more recent times, 'Gib' was once an important fortress and still is a strategic naval base for the British. As a British dependency, English, as one might imagine, is the official language. It also has strange dishes that we haven't seen for years -like bacon and eggs and fish 'n' chips.
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One of many beautiful old buildings
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Gibraltar has been under British control since 1704, when it was captured from the Spanish by combined English and Dutch forces during the War of the Spanish Succession. Without getting into all the details, strained relations between Spain and the British over rightful ownership have ensued since and Spain has tried on a number of occasions to take control. Having failed militarily, Spain then tried economic isolation in 1969 and closed its border. Spaniards could no longer show up for their jobs in Gib, those in Gib lost their only land exit access, and goods and supplies no longer were able to cross the border. In fact, we met one older man who told us the only way he could find work was to sail across the Straits and back daily in a small boat no matter what the sea conditions! In the end analysis, all that happened was that Gib was forced to diversify its economy, while both sides continued to work toward resolving their differences. Finally, in February 1985, for the first time in 16 years, the border with the Spanish mainland was fully reopened. Gib has a standing invitation to join Spain at any time and receive 'Autonomous Region Status', but in a referendum voted overwhelmingly to remain a British dependency.
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| Main street in Gibraltar |
Gibraltar's main economic activities are now tourism, shipping, and financial services. Main Street, with its distinctly British flair, offers a nice place to walk and window shop - a pleasant change though we don't really need to buy anything. There is a Safeway nearby and we hope to find some hard to find items, like pancake syrup, salad dressings, canned soups, etc.
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| Duty free shopping |
Gib claims to offer duty-free products, especially liquor and tobacco products. However, we don't find the prices that attractive at all, except on diesel for the boat, which was very cheap by European standards. And eating out in this tourist town is double what we are accustomed to. So, other than trying some grease-sodden fish 'n' chips one night, we opt for meals on the boat. Residents of the area usually cross the border to Spain to stock-up.
Tuesday, May 3 - Trafalgar War Cemetery
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| Trafalgar Cemetry - a historically significant sea battle |
We visit a very historic gravesite in Gib, the Trafalgar Cemetery. In here lie many of the soldiers who lost their lives in 1805 in a very significant sea battle just off the southern coast of Spain, the Battle of Trafalgar. How significant? Well, in the early 1800s in the wake of the French Revolution, the French led by Napoleon Bonaparte had gained control of the vast majority of western Europe through a series of spectacular victories. In 1804, Napolean had just self-proclaimed himself Emperor of France and all of Europe's leaders - many now out-of-land-and-riches kings and queens - were very alarmed. Britain, who's powerful navy and island location had it yet to be conquered, was encouraging other countries to stand up to Napoleon.
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| Trafalgar head stone |
Now in late October, 1805 a combined French / Spanish fleet was on the move south of Spain when they were intercepted by a British fleet commanded by Admiral Lord Nelson. On October 21st around noon, the two fleets engaged in battle. The French had formed their ships into a single battle line, south to north. Nelson, however, surprised his adversary by ordering his ships into two groups, each of which assaulted and cut through the French fleet at right angles, demolishing the battle line; this bold strategy created confusion, giving the British fleet an advantage. When the battle ended, in the late afternoon, some 20 French and Spanish ships had been destroyed or captured, while not a single British vessel was lost. The French commander, Villeneuve, was taken prisoner, along with thousands of his sailors. The British suffered about 1500 casualties, among them Admiral Nelson, who was mortally wounded. The overwhelming British victory destroyed Napoleon's plan to invade England and marked the turning point in Napoleon's fortunes - the beginning of the end of his empire ... the largest empire EVER in history.
Siege Tunnels
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| One of the many tunnels in Gibraltar |
In 1779 through 1783, one of the attempts by Spain to regain control of Gib was called the Great Siege. During this time, the British hewed by hand more than 70km's worth of tunnels inside the 'Rock', more distance then there are roads in Gib. These tunnels were large enough for military vehicles to maneuver and served gun emplacements around the perimeter.
Saturday, May 7 - climbing the Rock
The street leading up to The Rock is also known as the Union Jack Steps or Referendum Steps and were originally painted in 1967 to celebrate Gibraltar's first sovereignty referendum of that year.
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| Union Jack or Referendum steps |
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| Joel meets a Barbary ape |
Most of the upper Rock is a nature reserve with great views of the Atlantic, Africa, the Straits, and the Mediterranean Sea.
In the nature reserve are the Rock's most famous inhabitants, a colony of Barbary apes. Perhaps these primates were introduced from North Africa as a means to bolster Gib's tourism and diversify its economy after Spain closed the borders? We don't know for sure, but there is enough of them and they are very comical. Up in the reserve, loads of tourists in taxis and tour buses are unloaded to stare at the macaques.
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Apes getting ready to fire ...
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While hiking up to the apex of the Rock, we did run into an aggressive band of apes who would not let us and two others pass on a very narrow wall going straight up. There was no way to avoid them - either get by or return, hundreds of meters straight down. When Chris tried to scare them off, one grabbed his leg and another perched to leap at his back. But the valiant Chris persevered and managed to move them back a few meters where a stick lay (obviously used by others). Stick now in hand, the apes scattered.
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The Rock of Gibraltar...amazing .
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A lot of effort lands us at the top. We have climbed 426 meters (1398 feet) to what is commonly known as one of the two Pillars of Hercules. The other pillar being in Africa where we soon plan to visit. The views are truly iconic. Living so closely together on Tioga we truly are each others Rock of Gibraltar. :)
Sunday, May 8 - Heading for AFRICA!
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| Heading to Africa |
Stronger easterly winds (read headwinds) do not make it conducive to enter the Med for the short term, so we decide to reach across the Strait of Gibraltar and make a short visit to Morocco. We are thrilled to be heading for another continent, albeit, only for a few days. We are heading for Ceuta, which is a Spanish exclave on the African continent. There's a marina there where we can safely leave the boat, then we'll use ground transportation to visit Tetuan, Morocco. The highest of these peaks in the photo, Jebel Sidi Moussa, is thought to be the ancient Abila, the other 'Pillar of Hercules'.
11:26am Monday, May 9 - Day trip into Tetuan, Morocco
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| Moroccan border at Ceuta |
We haven't crossed borders looking like these since central America. We've just taken a 15 minute bus ride to the border and now we are walking towards the border, not too sure what we'll find. We're hoping to find an English-speaking guide, as we have heard, to take us into the city.
12:30pm - Our first camel...
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| Gerrit rides a camel |
Just inside the border there are actually numerous guides waiting to take tourists into Tetuan. Our guide, Mohammed, speaks 7 languages and has 12 children. His English is very good and we double check what the price should be before heading off. As we head down the road in our taxi, we see a man with camels on the side of the road. We can't resist stopping for photos and the camel-man offers to give us each a ride (but not out of the goodness in his heart).
1:20pm - Wandering the streets of the old city
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| Wandering the streets of Tetuan |
The streets of the old city are a maze of passages, a mélange of sounds and sights. Our guide weaves through the streets telling us of Moroccan history and explaining their customs. We pass little shops that sell everything, just as they have every day for the past thousand or so years.
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Colorful street
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We want to try some street foods but before we left, our guide told us we didn't need to convert Euros to Moroccan currency. But he forgot to tell the shop keepers where we wanted to go. As we suspected, it's the shops, merchants, and restaurants that our guide will take us to that will accept as many Euros as they can possibly pry out of our pockets. Nevertheless, its enjoyable wandering around.
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Making Khobz - Moroccan bread
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| Old city walls of Tetuan |
Morocco has felt the influences of several ancient cultures. Excavations have unearthed elements of the Phoenician, Hellenic, Carthaginian, and Roman civilizations. Christianity spread to this region in Roman times and survived an Arab invasion, but Arabic influences, which began in the 7th century, were to prove the strongest. The archways of the old city gates are typical.
Arabic is the country’s official language, which is the primary language of some 75 percent of the countries 30 million population. Numerous Moroccans also use French and Spanish.
... a mosque
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| Mosque tower |
Up until recently, Islam was established as the state religion of Morocco. Almost the entire population is Sunni Muslim. Recently, however, the monarch has separated Muslim authority from running the country. Still, only 1 percent of the population is Christian, and less than 0.2 percent is Jewish. Mosques abound, their minarets peaking above the house tops calling the faithful to prayers.
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| At the rug merchant |
We were told by cruisers before us that our guide would take us to a rug merchant no matter what we felt about it (and he did). We prediscussed our strategy to avoid buying a rug because, frankly, we had not heard of anyone being able to resist the savvy rug merchants. And our merchant was good. First, while fresh mint tea was being prepared for us, he would talk about the quality of the handmade rugs, take a lighter to the fibers which would not burn, spill a drink that would not stain. As we sipped our piping hot tea, his assistant would lay one rug on top of another. Finally, with a 3' stack of rugs in front of us, he would take one off at time telling us not to worry about cost right now, just to say yes or no if we liked it. Wow, these rugs were beautiful and for one moment we almost buckled. But we kept our mouths shut and our merchant eventually got the message, "we are not going to buy a rug today." Where would we put it..lol.
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| Dominos |
We asked these men playing dominoes if they minded us taking a photo. Obviously they didn't.
4:17pm - End of our short Moroccan tour
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| Back at the border |
As we head back the 40 minutes from Tetuan to the border, Chris explains to Joel in the backseat that there is still one more serious negotiation to occur. The one where our guide will go for more money than was understood at the outset. This one got a little gritty, but in the end we prevail. After over three years of travelling, we've learned a thing or two. Back at the boat, it's now time to head up to the Balearic Islands. The forecast shows the winds switching to west tomorrow.
Log 36 has us skirting the south coast of Spain and heading straight to the Balearic Islands.
