The Rock of Gibraltar

On the tip of Spain lies the British Protectorate, Gibraltar, and because Nate wants to literally see the entire world, we took a day trip:)  The mountain above is the famed Rock of Gibraltar, and the mountains below are Africa.  I kept hearing Sarah Palin's voice in my head, "I can see [Africa] from here!"  It was a beautiful day - so nice and sunny.  We were not really big fans of the walled, old part of the city.  It was ridiculously crowded, and lined with expensive shops, and duty free cigarette and liquor stores.

But our little bus trip around the island, to St. Michael's Cave and to see the monkeys was really cool.

During WWII, the British built a hospital in these caves, and it is said the the population of Gibraltar could have lived down in here - the caves are so massive.  I guess you wouldn't want to try to build something on top of the Rock - it would probably collapse.  Our tour only gave us 20 minutes to spelunk down in the cave, and we would have liked more time to explore.

The mountain is inhabited by Barbary apes - one belief is that the Moors brought them over for entertainment, and their population has just increased since.  Winston Churchill was a fan - he even brought over a few extras during the war to make sure there would always be monkeys because he believed that as long as the monkeys were there, the British would have control of Gibraltar.  

Our guide Mikey warned us about the monkeys - they are very used to people, and they know that in those rattly plastic bags, often food is found.  We were supposed to leave all bags on the bus.  As we came out of the cave, and crossed the street, we heard a yell, and a monkey jumped from the window of a car to the fence right in front of us.  A woman had been driving by with her window down and a bag of peanuts on her lap.  It was pretty hilarious to see - he crawled right through the bars and got to work on his bounty.  And seriously - what kind of brain dead person drives through a monkey infested area with her window down and a bag of peanuts on her lap and expects not to be robbed?!

Finley was quite a fan of the monkeys and kept petting this mama (she is snuggling a cute little baby monkey), until she pulled it's hair a little too hard, and the monkey swatted her hand away.  Will was not so fearless - he did not want Nate to get that close!  Because the drivers are up there all the time, the monkeys know them and will jump in their arms, and in the windows of their buses.  One monkey drove down the road with us, honking the horn the whole way.

It was a fun day and Will still asks about those monkeys, "Why they not have tails?"  (because they are technically apes, and apes don't have tails, in case he asks you:))