Travel

Story and photos by Barb & Ron Kroll

Surprising Gibraltar

How many surprises can you cram into a British Overseas Territory that is barely twice the size of New York City’s Central Park?

There is no place on earth like Gibraltar. It’s a little piece of Britain linked to southern Spain by a narrow isthmus.

Gibraltar is strategically located on one of the busiest sea lanes in the world, the Strait of Gibraltar, at the junction of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Morocco beckons across the strait only 12 kilometres to the south.

Planes have the right of way

We encountered our first surprise while get- each plane lands or takes off, the safety arms ting here from the Spanish town of La Linea. lift and traffic resumes. Traffic lights stop vehicles and pedestrians fol- lowing the 1.5-kilometre-long isthmus south Flying time from London, Manchester from Spain after border passport formalities. and other U.K. cities to Gibraltar is about Why? Crossing barriers are the only obstacles 2.5 hours. Most visitors, however, arrive by to collisions between cars and flights using the cruise ship, car or coach tours from Marbella, Gibraltar International Airport runway that Malaga and other Spanish Costa del Sol cities. Six-minute ride on the Cable Car to Top Station intersects Winston Churchill Avenue. After Surprise #2: Gibraltar has only 50 kilometres as New York’s Empire State Building, the 426- of roads. Parking is scarce, so most visitors metre natural fortress juts out of the Strait of leave their cars in the large lot by La Linea’s Gibraltar like an imposing fist of limestone. marina and walk for about 15 minutes (or take a bus) to Gibraltar’s town centre. Another sur- Dwarfing everyone and everything around prise – locals drive on the right, even though it, the Rock was one of the two legendary Gibraltar is British. Pillars of Hercules. (The other promontory is in North Africa.) When the ancient hero It’s easy to see the compact town on foot but, pushed them apart, the waters of the Atlantic to view the attractions on the Rock, Gibraltar’s Ocean rushed through the gap to form the scenic landmark, you should take a minibus Mediterranean Sea, separating the African Winston Churchill Avenue intersects tour or ride the Cable Car as we did. As high Gibraltar’s airport runway and European continents.

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