*Editor's note! This post is by Michael (if you couldn't tell by the length), not Ali. I am just annoying and want to control the photos. Also I am sorry for the extreme number of photos in this one, but then I take it back because who complains about an excess of monkeys?
Monkey see, monkey do! And we saw so many monkeys!
An hour south of Marbella is the Rock of Gibraltar, providing a great, day-trip opportunity. The territory has a breadth of history dating back to the earliest civilizations, and lore has provided it and its African twin many names, among them the Gates of Hades and the Pillars of Hercules. They were long-believed to be the end of the world, harbingers to a dire wasteland where nothing shy of sea monsters and certain death awaited. Oh, and of course Atlantis. Today, it's a territory of the UK, a residual claim held since the War of the Spanish Succession in 1713.
Due to traffic at the border and the need to cross the 2.6 sq. mile territory's only runway, we parked on the Spanish side for free and walked in. We were soon passing by centuries-old walls leading into a prominent and populated courtyard lined with fish and chips restaurants among brick everything. The feel was not quite Spain, but definitely more British, in both the fare and the currency.
We ponied up the pennies for a cable car ride up the Rock to the reserve that makes up the entire rocktop. From here you can see eternity. The whole land surrounding is flat, so the Rock is essentially a mountain out of sea-level. From Africa to Cadiz, Spain, your vision ends where your imagination ends, or where the fog allows it. First thing we encountered out of the cable car... aaa MONKEY! Then another monkey! Then another! Monkeys galore! Barbary Macaques to be accurate. We knew we were in for a treat.
We thoroughly explored the top's southern half, spending time in centuries-old fortresses, gasping at the nearly 90 degree cliffs sweeping down from the fortified walls 1,398' above the sea, watching monkeys do what monkeys do, and getting lost on the Steps of the Mediterranean (see Ali´s fashion model shot on the Steps below). Upon the latter, an uber-steep and insane trail of rock staircases and disappearing paths, we encountered the world's best fed seagulls, little cretins, who aggressively attacked us along our way. Ali referenced Hitchcock, and she was right, as we took cover in an old battery to escape their dive-bombing ire.
After the Birds episode, we entered (to the sounds of an echoing symphony) St. Michael's Cave, a stalag-heavy ancient cave that made the trip worth every penny. The Rock is a honeycomb of caves and caverns and we only saw one, but it was all we needed for sensory overload.
On our way back down the Rock we came across the Monkey Den. They were everywhere and they love cars because they associate them with food. No car entered without receiving ornamentation in the form of a monkey swarm. One little deviant used me as a jumping post to launch himself and it may've been the thrill of my life.
After that, and our five-hour jaunt up and down a mountain in the south of Spain, we retired for some much-deserved fish and chips and a beer before returning to Marbella. The best day of the trip thus far, we will be returning to see the Rock's northern path.
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