26 June

Grenada.  We enjoyed a proper eggs and bacon English breakfast before we took a taxi to the Renfe station to pickup our Budget car. It turned out that the car rental was through Avis, which was a little confusing. The Avis lady was very nice. We added the GPS unit and walked out to get the car. The car is a Nissan Micra and had room for our luggage in the trunk and plenty of legroom and a great air conditioner. 

Part of our trip took us through dry, mountainous olive groves. There were hundreds of miles of olive groves. We also passed about five toll booths. The first toll was 6.25 EUR. Then we paid 4 and then 5 and then 3 EUR. I was getting ticked off because the GPS unit was taking us through these tolls. We had a couple of problems with the GPS unit. We drove through a section of new tunnels and highways that weren't on the map. Then, we lost signal. Finally, Andy saw the coast on our right when it should have been on our left. We got turned around and finally made it.

Getting to Gibraltar is tricky because the Spanish aren't happy that it is still an English position. There are no signs for Gibraltar until the sign that tells you the next exit is for Gibraltar. So, we had to look for nearby coastal towns that were on the map and take the splits in the highway for those towns. Once in La Linea de la Concepcion, the Spanish town on the border, we went through eight round-abouts and slow, beach traffic. My perception of La Linea is that it is a bit like Daytona Beach.

There are huge oil refineries on the border with Gibraltar that belch smoke and flames. I have to think that the coastal waters aren't exactly the place to dip your toe in the Mediterranean. Andy parked the car at the Fo Cuna parking garage and we walked across the border.  Our car rental agreement said not to take the car out of the country, but our guide book also mentioned that this garage was cheaper and safer than other places.  We have heard that rental cars are targeted for theft in this area more than other areas.  The traffic going into Gibraltar is a bit like Pigeon Forge in high season. It is a traffic jam. We merely showed our passports to the border patrol and customs agents to enter Gibraltar. They didn't even stamp us in.

We had to wait for a plane to land before we walked across the tarmac into town.  Because Gibraltar is so small the airstrip intersects with the main road.  In the above picture, you see the main road approaching border control.  Planes land on the airstrip just past this gate.  We took a municipal bus ride on its route to see the town and got off at the main pedestrian street. By this point we needed a snack. We stopped at the Burger King and paid in euros but got our change in British pounds.  As you can imagine, this was an expensive and bizarre transaction.  We strolled the main street and its shops, including Marks & Spencer (a prominent British department store) and lots of gift shops. We stopped at the King's Chapel because it had a sign to say that all were welcome. It was a beautiful church with commemorations to many soldiers and civilians who had given their lives in service to the crown.  This chapel has a long history dating back to the late 1400s.  In those days it was part of a Franciscan friary.  In the 1700s, the chapel began service in the Church of England.  At one point all Gibraltararians worshiped here, but they soon outgrew it and had to build another church.  This church is the main church of the British army in Gibraltar.

Across from the chapel was a garden where Yoko Ono and John Lennon were married. We snapped a picture and then headed for the cable cars that would take us to the top of the rock. In six minutes we were at the top with the Barbary apes and incredible views. The apes were cute like big stuffed animals, but we were warned several times that the apes like to take tourist bags. As we had our daypack with us and I didn't want to have an ape perched on my shoulder, I kept my distance. After a while of viewing everything, we stopped in at the snack bar for a Slushpuppy to cool us down from the hot, sunny weather. We hit the cable car and were on our way back to the border.

As we walked, I noticed the Gibraltar flag in one of the buildings was made of Lego blocks. So, we stopped and snapped a picture. We hopped on another municipal bus to the border, showed our passport at customs, and legged it back to the parking garage in La Linea.

Andy drove us the rest of the way to the hotel in Tarifa, which took about an hour. We ascended a mountain and then slowly descended on a curvy, but well-paved road. We saw many windmills. We parked our cart at the port and walked to our hotel. Our room is spacious, with a bathroom with an actual door. We have air conditioning and our kind hotelier told us we could also get football on TV. The gentleman at our hotel has been so helpful. We were able to leave our laundry with him for a girl to pick-up in the morning. We asked about Wi-Fi, too.  It's fun to ask about Wi-Fi in Spanish because they call it "wee-fee".

Our room is in the hotel annex. It's a bit creepy because there is no receptionist in our building. It's as if another hotel went out of business and Hotel Alameda purchased it. We have our hotel key to let us in the building and also into our room.

Tomorrow we go to Morocco.