Day 8: Gibraltar

If I had a nickel for each email I received this morning, commenting on what a hot mess last night’s post was when I originally published it…well, I’d have 45 cents. ;-) Add 25 cents for each joking suggestion that perhaps I had taken up drinking again and I’d have $1.25. It’s absolutely true. I kept falling sleep, mid-paragraph, mid-sentence and, finally, mid-word last night. I don’t think I’ve ever had to spend as much time straightening out errant autocorrections as I did this morning. 

It is just minutes before midnight now, and G and I are still sitting in the International Café having a cappuccino. If I tried to write a post tonight, I fear I’d have much the same outcome. So I will post this as a placeholder and write about our day in Gibraltar, tonight’s folkloric show and the Backbeat Beatles party on deck…tomorrow morning.

More later!

Ok, it is just after 9am now, and we have just started to stir (and, in fact, we moved clocks an hour back last night, so I had a wonderful night’s rest). The sun is shining brightly and, for the first time this cruise, we have the balcony door open for a few minutes to let in some fresh air.  It’s finally warm enough to do that; what a beautiful morning!

The weather yesterday in Gibraltar was just as nice. Though it started out chilly, it warmed to around 80F by the afternoon. We didn’t arrive in Gibraltar until noon yesterday, and, though the ship was in port until 10pm, we knew we wanted to be on board for last night’s dinner (surf and turf for G and pad Thai for me). so we spent part of the morning trying to figure out what to do with only a few hours in port. You might remember that we were just in Gibraltar less than two years ago, and we really saw the city that day, doing all the typical first time things (click on the Gibraltar label on my blog, or search on Gibraltar to find that post). Although G would have been happy to see the monkeys on top of the Rock again, we didn’t think it was worth about $25pp to do so. 

Instead, we walked to the bus terminal just outside of Casemates Square and caught a #5 bus to the Gibraltar airport which is right on the border with Spain. The airport runway is one which is crossed by a road connecting Gibraltar and a small border town in Spain, and it’s rather unique to just drive right across an active runway. Barriers similar to those at a railroad crossing are lowered when an aircraft takes off or lands.  Once on the other side of the runway, we disembarked the bus and walked through immigration into Spain. Actually, I should say we walked through a small immigration building in Gibraltar, then another in Spain and we were there. These were not manned, and no one checked our passports. It was definitely an open border!

We walked down the road a bit until we came to a restaurant with outdoor seating and had a light lunch. Then we backtracked and walked through Spain immigration on the other side of the road (unmanned) and through Gibraltar immigration where we finally saw an immigration officer and were asked to show our passports. We still didn’t receive a passport stamp, though. We’ve used these (relatively) new passports to visit 10 countries so far and have yet to receive the first stamp (though they do have two visas for countries we’ll visit this trip). I miss passport stamps!

The Rock of Gibraltar 

Moorish Castle

We crossed the runway on foot this time, and, as it was around 4pm by then, we saw a line of construction workers who live in Spain but who are working on the many building projects in Gibraltar walking across the runway on their way home. Only about 30,000 people actually live in Gibraltar, and it’s obvious that many of its workers come across that border twice a day for their jobs. Once on the other side, we boarded a public bus that traveled south down to Europa Point, home to Harding’s Battery, where we had spent some time on our last visit.  Gibraltar is only 2.5 square miles; none of these sites is very far apart from any other. And then we returned to the port, stopping in a small drug store to pick up an item we needed along the way. 

So the day wasn’t very taxing, which is good, because, as I mentioned at the start of this post yesterday, we had a late night planned. We had just enough time to do a quick clean up for dinner and went to the International Dining Room, which was half empty because of our late stay in port. And, with a few minutes to spare, we sat in loungers on the Promenade Deck watching the beautiful lights of Gibraltar reflected in the water. At 8pm, there was a special folkloric show in the Princess Theater performed by a local Flamenco dance group called Contre Amigos (among friends) and they were just spectacular.  Three women, a man, a singer/percussionist and a guitarist...their staccato precision steps kept us mesmerized for nearly an hour. I am so glad Princess brings that kind of cultural entertainment on board during our late night stays, and it led me to wonder if we’ll see the great show we saw two years ago when we overnight in Venice. I hope so!

Gibraltar after dark

Flamenco dancer 

The band Backbeat Beatles was performing around the Neptune (outdoor, mid-ship) pool for sail away at 10pm, and, though it was a bit nippy by then, it wasn’t too cold if one was covered with a blanket or up dancing, so we chose to dance, and they performed for over an hour. It was basically a huge sing along, as they performed one after another of the Beatles best songs. The ship’s horn sounded and the Sapphire Princess slowly left Gibraltar behind and sailed into the Mediterranean Sea. 

Once that party was over, G was convinced he was still hungry, so we went to the International Cafe and enjoyed coffees (decaf, of course!). And G ate a piece of pineapple upside down cake (one of his favorites) and a ham and cheese croissant and we chatted with a fellow guest who lives in London until after midnight. It had been a wonderful day, and a relaxing one, too.

Today is our last day at sea until we are on the Norwegian Spirit, next Friday. And that will be our last day at sea for ten more days. The pace is picking up; we’re up for the challenge, though my blog posts might get shorter and more delayed as we go along. 

Day 59: Gibraltar (UK)

Gibraltar was another virgin port for us, and G especially was looking forward to visiting there today. We have visited close by- Tangier and Casablanca in Morocco and Marbella and Puerto Banus in Spain but had never been in Gibraltar. We were up early and in the Panorama Buffet again well before sunrise (I had stollen #2), which occurred today at 8:10am. It was extremely windy outside and when Captain D started an announcement about 7:40am, our hearts stopped. Would we be able to dock today?  Captain D said the harbormaster was allowing only two ships to enter the harbor this morning- a military ship and the Pacific Princess, due to the high winds. The military ship had priority and as soon as the tugs and pilot were finished working with it, we'd have our turn. We watched as Captain D maneuvered into the narrow harbour opening and made an immediate turn to port. It was exactly like threading a needle with a cruise ship. We ended up being at the pier around 8:40am or so, so we were late but at least we got in.

 

 

As soon as we disembarked the ship, we were approached by taxi drivers who wanted to give us city tours including the sites in the Gibraltar mountain nature reserve for 30€ per person in an 8-person van. (Though the Gibraltar £ is the official currency (not to be confused with the British £), Euros are accepted everywhere.) This would have been a good deal, but we did not want to wait for a van to fill, nor did we want to be climbing in and out of a van for part of the day. Instead, we walked the roughly 3/4 mile from the port to the public bus station at Casemates Square in town. There we purchased an all day pass for 3€ per person (a steal) and took a #2 bus to the far southern end of Gibraltar, called Europa Point. 

Europa Point is the location of a lighthouse (quite picturesque) and Harding's Battery, with a 55-ton cannon and a small museum in the battery detailing the geological origin and history of Gibraltar. We found this fascinating, especially when we learned that the Mediterranean Sea opened and closed millions of years ago, and then 5 million years ago it opened and stayed open, and Gibraltar was the site of the largest waterfall in history as the Atlantic Ocean filled the Mediterranean Sea. Because if its strategic location, Gibratar was the site of many conflicts and pirate attacks over the centuries but is now a British territory. It was a foggy day, but from Europa Point we could see Morocco in Africa. 

 

The Europa Point lighthouse

 

Harding's Battery with the Ibrahim-al-Ibrahim mosque behind it

 

In the museum in Harding's Battery

 

 

In the hazy distance is Africa (more specifically Morocco)

We walked over to the Ibrahim-al-Ibrahim mosque but were disappointed to discover it is closed in Fridays. I had come prepared with a scarf to cover my head and a pair of socks without holes to enter the mosque. ;-) We walked back to the bus stop (the #2 ran every 15 minutes) and took the bus back to the base of the cable car which travels to the top of the mountain. While our day had been cheap so far, the cable car cost about 20£ per person, or $48 total, but we may not ever get back here again so we paid by credit card and took the six minute ride to the top of the mountain. We were hoping to see some of the Barbary apes for which Gibrater is famous; well, it would have been more of a trick to not see them. They were everywhere, but the cutest set was a family with three babies who ran around chasing each other and playing. 

 

Map of the Rock of Gibraltar and nature preserve

 

Apparently we weren't very exciting spectators 

I think this is my favorite photo of the entire trip

 

So hazy, but you can see the Pacific Princess at its berth in the port of Gibraltar 

 

While we had a view off the west side of the mountain toward the harbor and the Pacific Princess, there was dense fog on the east side that blocked the view of the beaches down below. The mountain has a sharp ridge which runs along the top, with steep drop offs on either side. At this point, we decided to walk down the mountain toward the north to see the signaling station, siege tunnels, military museum and Moorish Castle. And this is when it started to get tricky. The switchback road was very steep but certainly walkable but, in the interest of time, we took a cut through path and this was very rough and steep with small jumbled rocks. It was Mt. Tapioi on Raiatea all over again. 

 

The view off to the right down to the Atlantic would be totally obscured...

 

...but then it would clear a little just for a few seconds. 

 

 

This would have been the wise way to go down the mountain...

 

...but we chose this way instead...

 

...and this way...

 

...and eventually this way (when we got lost). 

The signaling station appeared to be closed, but we were able to tour the siege tunnels and military museum and continued our way down the mountain to the Moorish Castle. At a lookout just before the castle, we had a clear view of the Gibraltar airport with its runway that is crossed by a major road. When planes take off or land, crossing barriers come down to stop traffic until the plane is safely parked or has taken off. We were very lucky to be there while a small plane taxied and took off and watched as the traffic backed up and then resumed travel one the gates were opened. We climbed to the top of the Moorish Castle but didn't dawdle; the walk down had already taken three hours and we needed to get back to the ship. Luckily, just past the Moorish Castle are a set of about a million stone steps down to the city center. Oy vey I was tired!!

 

The gates are closed and traffic is stopped from crossing the runway

 

The plane begins to taxi

 

It turns to take off

 

It is airborn

 

Traffic again crosses the runway

 

 

 

The Moorish Castle

 

Steps going down...

 

...and down...

 

....and down...

 

...and still more. 

 

 

 

Casemates Square

Once back at Casemate Square, we still had to walk back to the Pacific Princess and stopped at a pharmacy along the way to buy more sudafed and nasal spray and throat lozenges. The prices were much cheaper than at a store near Port Everglades and we're now set for the remainder of our cruise. We reboarded the ship at about 4pm after almost 7 hours of walking and we were bushed. Still, we were showered and were in the PES Lounge at 5pm to watch as we sailed, and then went to the Club Restaurant where I had salad and salmon again...and sorbet for dessert, of course. We had skipped lunch, and this was definitely a day where we burned more calories than we consumed!

The Cabaret Lounge show was vocalist Brenda Cochrane (we had seen her two cruises ago) and we then sat in the Casino Lounge to listen to Jere Ring for about an hour. We finally left when we were nearly napping as we sat there. We move clocks back one hour for the first of six times tonight and I am elated about that. The only thing better than a day on a cruise is a 25-hour day on a cruise. 

And, finally, Captain D made the not unexpected announcement this evening that we will be precluded from going to Ponta Delgada in the Azores due to a series of winter depressions crossing the Atlantic. However, we are substituting a stop in Funchal, Madeira just one sea day from now. We have twice been to Funchal and loved it, but were kind in looking forward to seeing new territory. No matter; several passengers who have been to both say that Funchal is definitely the preferred stop. This will have us sailing over 300 miles further south across the Atlantic to Bermuda and will lessen our anticipated swell height by one meter. I think that's a very good thing.