Rock of Gibralter
 

We are cruising to that area and have a day to soend there. Should we take a tour from the cruise line or do our own thing? It seems like there are trams to the top and not sure we need a guided tour???

We were in Gibraltar a couple of years ago, there is a tram that goes to the top but make sure of closing times because if it stops running, you are stuck walking down. The site is well-signed and there is lots of information in English, so unless you are a person who loves a tour guide you can probably get through it alone. Plan on lots and LOTS of walking and stairs nonetheless.

There is a cable car to the top (is that what you mean by tram)? After that a little wandering - but IMHO not a lot to see.

We felt it was a waste.

Do you have the option of seeing part of Spain instead?

Gibraltar? Better to look at from afar than visit. You should spend your time in Cádiz and enjoy yourself.

An English friend and I were talking about places to go recently. She mentioned Gibraltar so we had a long look on Google Streetview. We couldn't find anywhere that looked interesting or inviting in any way. Now we may have just missed the charm somehow but, in any case, we decided to not go there.

Eh, since your cruise is forcing you to stop there, you might as well have a look around, see the apes, etc. I wouldn't suggest anyone go there, but since you have to stop, make the most of it.

The "apes" are monkeys - that are half-tame, ill-tempered, nasty and given to stealing and biting.

Any reasons you can't do Cadiz or similar instead?

We are stopping on a cruise-thanks for the good advice. Maybe we will just take a tram to the top

nytraveler - no, the animals are Barbary Apes. They also live in the Middle Atlas of Morocco. Supposedly there is a tunnel under the Straits which allowed them to migrate to the Rock, but it's never been found.

Wordsmith - after looking at the apes, go to the bar of the Rock Hotel and have a G&T or some tea. It's the traditional thing to do.

The weirdest thing about Gibraltar is driving from the Spanish fronrier and going across the airport tarmac to get to the town.

St. Michael's Cave was interesting as were the Great Siege Tunnels. And, I liked the Barbary Apes.

Stayed at the Rock Hotel. Hired a taxi driver to be our guide. Saw everything.


http://www.gibraltarinfo.gi/gibralta...aels-cave.aspx

To tell you how exciting Gibraltar is, Spain no longer has any interest in getting it back from the British. Something to do about the Apes?

<i>Spain no longer has any interest in getting it back from the British.</i>

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-86F-heat.html

It's a good reason to stay on Gib and not go into Spain

Oops, my mistake. They are actually monkeys !

Well I don't know why so many are slamming Gibraltar - I wouldn't want to spend any length of time there but for a day stop on a cruise, it is interesting enough. We took the cable car up and enjoyed the amazing views, then walked to where we could watch the apes. From that point you can look down on all the taxi tours coming thru and watch the antics of the apes with your fellow passengers - it was quite entertaining IMO. We have also done one of the taxi tours and found the cave fortifications somewhat interesting. If you don't want to do the tour, you can take a local bus to where the cable car goes up.

Well of course they're monkeys. Apes are gorillas, chimps and orangutans - totally different from the many species of monkeys.

And they are still nasty, steal things from tourists and can bite if not fed.

We spent 4 hours - including lunch - and it was 2 hours too long - compared to all there is to see and do in Spain.

I would not go if I was you. Queues can be long at times and at the moment the UK and Spain are having a fizzy fit.
Photo:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/attac...6&d=1375051647
Article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013...braltar-border

"Spain no longer has any interest in getting it back from the British"

Spain wants to take control of the Rock, it all got noisy again over the weekend. I think if I was in that part of the world I would pop in and have a visit. But it is really a very small town, only 25k citizens and about 10k Spaniards come over to work each day.

During the noisy periods the link with Spain is slowed down by paper work. So the only people hurt by the slow down is the 10k Spanish.

It is not really a British issue, but the locals vote to stay British time and again with startling high agreement and turn out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibraltar

>>I would not go if I was you. Queues can be long at times and at the moment the UK and Spain are having a fizzy fit.<<

But I understood the OP is arriving IN Gibraltar on a cruise ship, so the queues in/out of Spain are irrelevant in the OP's case.

>>To tell you how exciting Gibraltar is, Spain no longer has any interest in getting it back from the British.<<

Officially they do, of course, but I suspect its real value is as a way of providing Spanish governments in difficulty with something to make a distracting noise about (quite apart from the general economic situation, the PM is facing some difficult personal allegations).