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Around the Rock
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From near the end of Main Street you can hop on a
cable car
(Mon-Sat 9.30am-6pm, last trip down 5.45pm; A?4.90 return, children under 10 half price) which will carry you up to the summit -
The Top of the Rock
as it's logically known - via
Apes' Den
halfway up, a fairly reliable viewing point to see the tailless monkeys and hear the guides explain their legend. From The Top you can look over the Strait of Gibraltar to the Atlas Mountains and down to the town, its elaborate water catchment system cut into the side of the rock, and ponder whether it's worth heading for one of the beaches. From the Apes' Den it's an easy walk south along St Michael's Road through the so-called "Nature Reserve" to
Saint Michael's Cave
(free entry with cable-car ticket), an immense natural cavern which led ancient people to believe the rock was hollow and gave rise to its old name of
Mons Calpe
(Hollow Mountain). The cave was used during the last war as a bomb-proof military hospital and nowadays hosts occasional concerts. If you're adventurous you can arrange at the tourist office for a guided visit to Lower Saint Michael's Cave, a series of chambers going deeper down and ending in an underground lake.
Although you can take the cable car both ways, it's an interesting walk up via Willis's Road to visit the Tower of Homage . Dating from the fourteenth century, this is the most visible surviving remnant of the old Moorish Castle . Further up you'll find the Upper Galleries (aka the Great Siege Tunnels), blasted out of the rock during the Great Siege of 1779-82, in order to point guns down at the Spanish lines. To walk down, take the Mediterranean Steps - they're not very well signposted and you have to climb over O'Hara's Battery, a very steep descent most of the way down the east side, turning the southern corner of the Rock. You'll pass through the Jews' Gate and into Engineer Road. From here, return to town through the Alameda Gardens and the Trafalgar Cemetery , overgrown and evocative, with a good line in imperial epitaphs. The grand tour of the Rock takes a half to a full day, and all sites on it are open from 9.30am to 7pm in summer, 10am to 5.30pm in winter; if you visit all the attractions, buy a reduced-price ticket which includes the cave as well. Back in town , incorporated into the Gibraltar Museum (Mon-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat 10am-2pm; A?2), are two well-preserved and beautiful fourteenth-century Moorish Baths . The museum, along with Nelson's Anchorage on Rosia Road - where the body of the naval commander was brought ashore following the Battle of Trafalgar - the casino and the miniature golf , is about the extent of the sightseeing, though you may also be interested in dolphin-spotting boat trips , run by two companies from the Queensway Quay (daily; tel 74958; A?12-15 depending on company; reductions for kids); you should ring first to book places or ask the tourist office to do it for you.
Gibraltar has plans to reclaim an area equivalent to that of the present town from the sea, and is currently doing feasibility surveys on pumping up sand from the seabed. But at present there is just the one tiny fishing village at
Catalan Bay
, which is where you'll find the
beach
with most character. The inhabitants of the village like to think of themselves as very distinct from the townies on the other side of the Rock. About 48km of recent tunnels, or
galleries
, have been bored through the Rock for military purposes - these are now being adapted to help solve the territory's traffic-flow crisis brought on by the extraordinary surplus of cars. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Gibraltar,
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