Well, we were not alone in the port of Gibraltar early this morning. The Tui Mein Schiff 7 was docking right after we did after 7:30am. She is a big ship, compared to the Zuiderdam, with 111,500 gross tons and 2896 passengers with a crew of 1447. The name Mein Schiff means "my ship", and to belongs to the family of Royal Caribbean , which we did not know.
Gibraltar is a British Territory. It is quite small in square kilometers, but it is famous for the "Rock" of Gibraltar. There is a cable car that will take you to the top of the mountain where you can see the Great Siege Tunnels built from 1779 to 1783. At the middle station, you will find the rare Barbary apes, or macaques that have no tails. They are semi-wild and capable of snatching anything they can off of you. The cable car rates were for an up and down ride for 23.50 Euro, or up and down with the nature reserve for 60 Euro, or a one way ride up and reserve for 56 Euro.
Or you could have booked one of the ship's tours that did basically the same thing, but you would have a bus ride to the cable car station and back to the ship. The excursions ran from 2 -3 hours and cost 75 to $80. Then there was easy Gibraltar with an elegant tea for 2 hours and $85 or easy Gibraltar with tapas for $80.
Since we have been to the top of the rock many years ago, we decided to explore the old town. All aboard was 3:30pm, so we did not have a lot of time. We had a long walk to the cruise terminal under heavily overcast skies that looked like rain, but it never did. If the sun did appear, it was for a nano second. The temperature of 65 degrees was OK for walking. The weather reminded us of being in San Francisco on a summer day without the fog. In the terminal, we found the info desk and picked up a nice map with the major sites listed and most of the street names. Then we followed the crowd through the town until we arrived at the Casemates Square, with tons of history, colonial-style buildings and cafes and all types of eateries. This square was large enough to host parades and concerts.
Before we entered the square through the old arched tunnels, we paid a visit to the Eroski Supermarket, which sold all types of produce, meats, chicken, and fresh fish. We did notice that the large apples and oranges were imported from France. After entering the spacious square, we took note of the many types of cafes and restaurants there. We even saw Burger , Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell between the souvenir shops and fish and chips cafes.
From this square there was a pedestrian-only Main Street chock full of shops, boutiques, department and liquor stores, smoke shops, pharmacies, and souvenir shops. The most seen stores were jewelry, watches, and higher-end places like Swarovski, Lladro, Majorca Pearls and the place that sells the charm bracelets. There were as many bars and restaurants as there were stores. Woven in between these establishments were the historical places like City Hall, a museum and archive, Sacred Heart Church, St. Mary's Crowned Cathedral, The Convent, war memorials, a cemetery garden ,and Parliament.
Trafalgar Cemetery was at the end of the shops and the old wall. We had researched a pizzeria near here, but we did not have a really good detailed map. We decided if we took the time to find the place, we may run out of time to get back before the all aboard time. So we headed uphill and walked back on Prince Edward's Road that followed an ancient rock wall that separated the Gibraltar Nature Reserve from the town. We took a short cut down a flight of steep stairs on an alleyway called "Forty Stairs".
The only souvenir that one of us was searching for was a visor with Gibraltar printed on it. All they sold were men's baseball caps. Once again, we came back empty-handed. But there still was time for lunch. Back at Casemates Square, we went to a place called "The Rock" which served all types of food, except pizza. We were in need of beverages, so we ordered pint Estrella draft beers. Very good. Then we added a beef burger with fries to share. Nice for a change, we ended the meal with a dessert of a warm brownie and vanilla ice cream to share of course.
The clock was ticking, so we headed back to the pier and got there by 3:10pm. We had 20 minutes left before we were late, heaven forbid. Today's walk was close to 5 miles or more, and it was wonderful to get back and relax for the remainder of the afternoon.
Captain Frank came on with his talk after 4pm. He said we would be leaving soon and sailing to Cartagena, Spain tomorrow. We have 255 nautical miles to go at a speed of 17 knots. Then he added that the skies would remain overcast, but the winds would pick up from 30 knots to over 55 or 60 knots this evening. Hmmm, that is significant. And for safety reasons, he would have the outside decks closed off tonight. Tomorrow's temperature should be around 66 degrees, and if the wind calms down, we can wear our shorts again.
The ropes were cast off and we were sailing out of the harbor by 4:30pm. We left the Mein Schiff 7 behind, and we had no idea when they were leaving. Now we wonder if another ship or two will be in Cartagena tomorrow. These Mediterranean ports are always crowded even this time of year. Summer is worse. We stayed on the veranda watching the "Rock" until it disappeared in the haze. And just as the Captain said, the seas became turbulent, and the winds picked up dramatically. The cold wind sent us back inside to continue working on photos.
We went to the dining room for dinner close to 8pm. We ordered the same starters of shrimp cocktails and Caesar salads. Mains were one chili chicken plate and one short rib dinner. No dessert for us, we turned in for the evening.
The show was the singers of the Repertory Company with songs of the all-time great ladies of pop. With the ship moving up and down and rolling and pitching, we doubt there were dancers on the stage tonight.
Tomorrow's port times are 9am to 4:30pm, another sort of short day.
Bill & Mary Ann
