While I had heard of the Rock of Gibraltar, I didn’t know where it was, why it was important, that it’s a British territory, or that the most famous residents of the rock were the wild monkeys which are actually Barbary Apes. What I found out about Gibraltar is that he Rock of Gibraltar, is a monolithic limestone promontory located in the British territory of Gibraltar, near the southwestern edge of Europe. It is 426 meters high, and the top of the rock is home to almost 300 wild Barbary Apes.The Rock of Gibraltar is one of the two Pillars of Hercules, the other pillar being on the African side of the Strait in Ceuta, Spain.

The Rock of Gibraltar and an oil tanker silhouetted against the morning sky as our ship prepares to dock.  In the very competitive business of bunkering , Gibraltar has become the third busiest bunker port in Europe. ( bunkering is the supplying of fuel for use by ships )

The Rock of Gibraltar and many ships are silhouetted against the morning sunrise.

The cable car that takes visitors to the top of the Rock.

The Gibraltar cable car that takes you to the top of the rock. It was claimed the cable car could hold twenty-eight people, but it was rather crowded with just 24.

View from atop the rock of our Holland America cruise ship docked below.

View of the business side of Gibraltar with cruise ships and other ships bunkering in the waters right off the coast.

The “other side” of the rock.

While technically not called the "other side of the rock", this view is of the less populated side of the rock.

They are technically Barbary Apes, but to the untrained eye, they look like monkeys.

They look like monkeys, but technically they are Barbary Apes.

Purple lights illuminate the seating inside the rock.

Purple lights color the seating inside the caves of the Rock of Gibraltar.

The apes are considered to be wild, but not so much as this one sits for the background of a selfie.

While the Barbary Apes/monkeys are considered to be wild, this particular one sits still while a visitor to the rock uses it's image as a background for a selfie.

The British dug many tunnels inside the rock. This one holds a quite large canon that was used to defend the territory.

Back when people fought over possession of the rock, these canon installed in the caves by the British could be fired at you.

The four lane Winston Churchill Boulevard passes right through the runway of the Gibraltar airport. Churchill Boulevard is the main connection road between Spain and Gibraltar.

Winston Churchill Boulevard is the main road into and out of Gibraltar. It passes directly across the one and only runway of Gibraltar airport. Traffic is stopped up to 12 times a day so the jets can land and takeoff.


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