Spain day 7 - Gibraltar

Our last day in Spain I didn't really plan much since I wanted the kids to be able to enjoy some time in the pool at our last hotel.  But since we couldn't check into the hotel until 2 and we were pretty close to Gibraltar, we thought we might as well stop by (easier said than done).  Gibraltar was captured from Spain in 1716 by a English-Dutch fleet and later turned over to England.  The line to cross the boarder into Gibraltar was slow going and took us over an hour just to show them our passports to get into the 2.3 square mile country.  You then crossed through the runway strip of the airport before getting into town.  We thought it would be quite easy to find our way to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar, but our gps wasn't helping us out and the signs were lacking.  We eventually stumbled upon Europa Point, the southern point of Gibraltar and were able to ask some tour bus drivers how to get up the rock.

Europa Point lighthouse

View of the Rock of Gibraltar

the Ibrahim-al-Ibrahim Mosque

 There are quite a few things to see at the Rock of Gibraltar, but since it had already taken us so long to make our way up there and we wanted to leave time for the kids to swim, we only ended up stopping at the Ape's den to get some great views and see the monkeys.

View of Strait of Gibraltar to Morocco

There were signs all over when we got out of the car that the monkeys could be aggressive, especially if cornered in narrow spaces, so we were a little nervous walking our children up the staircases by the monkeys.  

He doesn't look like the friendlies monkey

miss Avery and a monkey

2 little monkeys