Rock of Gibraltar Day Trip
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Rock of Gibraltar Day Trip
October 13
Long before arriving in Spain, we had looked into group tours and private tours of Gibraltar from Malaga. The prices we saw for private tours from Malaga were over $1,200, and we really didn’t want to do another all day group tour. So, we decided we would just do it on our own. I had pre-purchased tickets for entry to everything at the Rock of Gibraltar via Get Your Guide. Then starting with the Rome2Rio website I found my way to the Omio website where I pre-purchased round trip Aventi bus tickets from Malaga to Gibraltar. I then downloaded the Omio app for future reference. Our bus departed Malaga at 8:20 a.m. so we got up at 7:00 am and had cereal, fruit, and yogurt for breakfast in the room and headed out for the bus station at 7:30.
The bus arrived in the town of La Linea de la Conception, at “La Linea” (the frontier) station at 10:40 am, a 2 1/2 hour bus ride. This town is right at the border of Spain and Gibraltar, which is a British territory. After a 5-minute walk, via Apple Maps we found our way to passport control on the Spanish side. Here is where we got our first views of the Rick of Gibraltar. It was impressive even though the top half was shrouded in fog. We were hoping the fog would lift soon.
After about 15 minutes we were through the border to Gibraltar. Our Rock tickets via Get Your Guide included a ride on the Gibraltar public bus from this border point to near the cable cars that we opted for as our transport to the Rock of Gibraltar from town. This bus stop was a one-minute walk from passport control on the British side (bus #10).
The detailed instructions from Get Your Guide instructed us to take this bus to the Boyd St. stop in Gibraltar. The cable car to the Rock was a 5-minute walk from here. Our tix from Get Your Guide also included fare for the cable car. We had the option of a 2-hour guided bus tour up but we opted for the cable car experience and more flexibility than a bus tour. The cable car ride was only about 10 minutes, and we got some nice views but nothing anybody going up the Rock wouldn’t see once up top. But we did get to the top quickly.
Upper Rock Nature Reserve
Once atop, we got our bearings while having a cup of coffee at the cafe. We found the maps and path markings to not be very helpful. At one point we asked a ticket taker for directions and he commented how awful the maps are that they provide. So we just made our way along the Gibraltar Nature Reserve in the direction of St. Michaels cave just to have a route for exploring.
We saw lots of barbary macaques monkeys, as they are everywhere.
Despite the fog we hit at first, we did manage some nice views of Gibraltar below.
The views out into the straits were still foggy, but getting clearer. The views of the water and Africa across the straits would appear and disappear as the fog fluctuated. Eventually we got enough clearing at Upper Rock to see the Straits of Gibraltar and Africa.
Then on see St. Michael’s Cave. This required a ticket for entry, which came with our ticket package. This is a small series of limestone caves in the Upper Rock Nature Preserve. There is a stage inside also, but we didn’t stay for the light show. The formations and colors are actually pretty cool. It is thought that the macaques monkeys made their way to Gibraltar from Africa via this network of caves and tunnels between the continents.
Then to the Windsor suspension bridge. At 75 yards across, with a 50 yard drop into the gorge, this actually is not as scary as it looks. But a magnificent lookout over the straits and the city.
Great Siege Tunnels
After the bridge we hiked for what seemed forever to the other side of the preserve, with several steep climbs up a narrow-paved road with several cars going by. Thirty minutes later we got to the Great Siege Tunnels. These tunnels also required an entry ticket. The tunnels are the work of English soldiers who created and lived in these tunnels for almost 4 years as the French and Spanish tried to re-take the Rock from the British, 1789-1793. It’s a very cool interpretive exhibit.
The ticket taker here told us it would be quicker and easier for us to just walk down into town from the Siege Tunnels rather than go back up to the cable car. So that’s what we did, shortly passing by the Moorish Castle, which we opted not to check out since we had a bus to catch. We did see a cannon sitting on a stone overlook which was part of the Moorish Castle…so check off Moorish Castle I guess. We asked a tour bus driver the best way down from here to our bus stop. This was fortuitous because he directed us down the “Castle Steps”. This route gave us a chance to meander through the maze of narrow walkways of the old, charming, hilly neighborhood separating the Rock’s nature preserve and bustling downtown Gibraltar. It seemed to go down forever…we are very glad to have taken the cable car up and then walking down instead of the other way around!
Not knowing how much time it would take to cross passport control back into Spain, and to be sure we would eventually not miss our bus back to Malaga in 1.5 hours, we found our way to the main bus stop in the center of downtown. With more time we probably would have tooled around the town of Gibraltar more, it’s a very busy place.
It took about 15 minutes for our bus to arrive. Bus #10 took about another 15 minutes to get us to the border. It then took another 15 minutes to walk to passport control and get through into Spain. This gave us about an hour until our bus back to Malaga. We killed the hour with tapas and drinks at Cafe Bar Eclen. This is a non-touristy local cafe that is basically next door to the La Linea de Concepcion bus station. The staff was friendly and the cold tapas were fine…hot tapas were not being served at this hour. For about $25 we got two beers, two cokes, and two tapas…perfect.
About 45 minutes into our ride back to Malaga the bus broke down on the highway. We waited about an hour for another bus to come rescue us. Since we got back to Malaga later than planned, we stopped for dinner on the walk back to the hotel from the bus station. We found an open outdoor table at Meson La Alegria, a charming restaurant with good food. Interestingly we didn’t notice right away the sign of the store next to this very nice restaurant. LOL!
Tomorrow we are off to Granada by train. So, tonight we pack up and prepare for the day’s journey. Spending five nights in the same hotel is unusual for us, it was kind of nice for a change of pace.
Off to bed…dreaming of doing laundry in the morning.
Next: To Granada, The Alhambra
