Is Gibraltar worth a visit?
 

We will be in southern Spain in early May for just a few days and wondered if a day trip to Gibraltar and perhaps across to Tangiers is recommended. It is our first trip to Spain.

Gibraltar is a single-street town. The place is one shop after another, almost all run by Indians and Pakistanis. A few bars, a few rundown restaurants. Worth a trip? Hardly.

Tangier is a beehive of hustlers, rug hawkers, and flies. Dreadful.

If you go with a group or on your own to Tangier, yes, it is a mess.

However, hire yourself a private guide and you will have a wonderful time.
We used Aziz Begdouri. He was amazing. Spoke fluent English & was like the Mayor in Tangier.

He met us at the port in Spain.
We took the hydrofoil over to Ceuta. His driver & air conditioned van was waiting for us on the other side. We whisked through the border patrol in 5 minutes, and began a stunning 45 minute drive through the Riff Mountains to Tangier. Since it was Saturday, we were able to stop at an authentic Berber Market along the way. Fascinating. Once in Tangier we went to The Cave of Hercules, rode a camel, went to Cape Spartel (where the oceans meet), saw an 800 year old tree, a museum that wasn't open to the public yet, the remainder of the Forbes miniature soldier collection at the American Ligation, the commercial casbah and residential casbah. We told him money was no object for lunch (we knew no matter where we went it would be cheaper than NYC) and he took us to some amazing resort with a restaurant overlooking the private beach. Delicious meal with shrimp and alcohol was $75 for 3 people. We were stuffed. And the resort is gorgeous. We are planning to go back and stay there eventually. Beaches are pristine-except for where the cows are sleeping on them.

Not once were we bothered by anybody. Just don't give money to the gypsy kids (he warned us about that) and you will be fine. No pressure to buy ANYTHING.

And Aziz could answer every single question we presented him with.

We took the slower boat home - the catamaran from Tangiers. Beautiful ride with dolphins jumping along side of the ship most of the way and a perfect photo op view of the Rock of Gibralter before we pulled into harbor.

email to [email protected] His fee was ridiculously low - $18 per hour or something. I had written to him prior to the trip and asked if he wanted anything from NYC. He was thrilled, and only wanted real Levi's, which he was willing to pay for. I brought him 2 pair and was planning on giving that to him as a tip. He was so excited about the pants, that he didn't even want us to pay him for the day. We insisted. Shortly after arriving home, we received a huge box of that Moroccan Mint tea that I loved and a Prayer rug.

So, I say--go for it!

Only there to board the high-speed boat to Tangiers, did not look very nice to me. Heard it was a bunch of shops on solid concrete on solid rock. Many, who took the ferry went to see the monkeys on the top of the rock and were very disappointed. Tangiers bus trip was not bad, but for the street beggars / sellers. I took a tour bus that picked me up at my hotel in Marbella; the price was $55 two years ago. I thought it was a good value, but would not do it again. At least I can say I went to Africa. Mark

Not!!!! you can see the rock from the Spain border and take a picture of it.But the town aswell as the rock are
not worth visiting, in the rock you would enter a cave for 5 min. and then
they have a small souvenier shop and also you would be able to see " do not
touch" the famous monkies.
that's really all. I would go instead to Ronda,Marbella,Torre molinos,Cordova
Granada etc... Tangier:is kind of dangereous and the hustlers are a real pain in the b.....! Yes, lots of flies.

bugswife1, what a lovely post!

Tangiers was a unique experience to us but I wouldn't do it again. We were with a tour and felt safe. The beggars were relentless and while not asaultive, they never stopped following us. The markets were crowded and dirty...produce for sale was displayed on towels laid out on the street.
On the boat over, they stamped our passports with the next days date so we had difficulty getting out.

Gibraltar was another place that we felt the need to visit for historic reasons and of course we could then say we were there...however, it was not a memorable day. I agree with other posters that there are many more exciting

Whether you go there or not, you might enjoy reading Paul Theroux's account of visiting Gibraltar in his excellent book about traveling around the Mediterranean, <i>The Pillars of Hercules</i>.

Thank you Snob. I want to add that Aziz is really well connected over there, as well as being a lawyer in Malaga. No one came near us while we were with him. They all called out Hello, Aziz!, with a wave and a smile and went about their business. I never once felt in danger, and this was not even a year post 9/11. The people we met could not have been nicer-especially the guy from Massachusetts who runs the Ligation and the musical director at the Music Club (we stopped in there as well). No, it is not Europe, it is a third world arab country. I guess that is why I found it so interesting. I had never been to an Arab country before. The contrast between Porto Banus and Tangier is staggering and quite an education. Dusty, not so clean, and the expected level of poverty. But worth every minute spent there. And the pictures of me on a cranky camel are priceless.

If you have only a few days in southern Spain I would not bother with gibralter. We went - it was a convenient spot for lunch - ascended the mountain and saw Africa in the distance. However, the security in and out is so extreme (they practically disassembled our rental car) that it wasn;t worth the time.

Bugswife1,
Now that is the way to see Gibralter and Tangiers. Great information and certainly puts a new spin on what is positive to see instead of all of the bad experiences I have heard from everyone else regarding that side trip from Southern Spain. Thank you, I will save the name of the guide you used for future trip information.

Thank you all for your insights.

Bugs1wife: Now we have an option to consider if we feel these are places we shouldn't miss while we're there, but want to avoid the hassles. Thanks for the tip!

Great post, Bugswife. I too will save that information for future use.

Glad to help. If you go to the Africa board, there is tons of info on Morocco--and my old, original threads from that trip.

Oh, and with Aziz, no waiting on line when you depart Morocco. He zips right up front, gets you stamped, and out. He will also get you seated in the VIP area on the Catamaran or hydrofoil. Like I said, everyone knows him.

Well as a contrarian I have to chime in on behalf of GBZ as the country discs call it. I think it's a fascinating place, providing a real insight into European history, imperialism, all that. A whole day if you're only in the area for a few? Maybe not, due to the hassles of getting in and out (do NOT bring a private car if you're in a hurry - the Spanish border cops deliberately go ultra-slow in inspecting vehicles re-entering Spain as a means of annoying the UK despite EU admonitions to the contrary. As if Spain didn't have its own little duty-free enclave in Cueta, across the Strait on the African coast - what hypocrisy.)

The rock and apes are interesting, you can get a decent pint or duty-free anything, cheapest petrol/gasoline in Europe I think (but don't bring your car ;-) so never mind,) and a humongous Safeway selling cheap magazines and paperback books in English - a godsend if you're touring the continent extensively.

Also a couple of historic anomalies - a significant Jewish presence, for example, the last such on the Iberian Peninsula; very cool postage stamps, and coins with Mrs. Q on one side and apes on the other. Now where else will you see that?

I went to both for the experiance. You do get a perspective of the history of the area. Do NOT drive to Girbaltar. Park in Spain and walk over. It took us no time to go that way.