Algeciras, Spain

Bus from Ronda -1 hr. 38 mins.

6/30- 7/03

Hills and heat, walking with backpacks for over an hour and only getting lost a few times... then arriving at our place to realize we booked a shared living space, things were not off to a great start....at least we had our own bedroom and bathroom. 

We soon realized arriving on a Sunday, most places were closed, which left us little options close by for a cold beer and a bite to eat after this long exhausting day........more walking led us to the tourist zone where we each enjoyed all five of our shots of tequila.

The next day we took a bus to Tarifa to see Playa de los Lancer Sur. The weather wasn’t that great but we wanted to check out this little beach town.  We had brunch at a fun beach bar and hung out on the beach until we both were sand beaten by the wind and cold. 

On our third day, we left our place at 9:00 a.m. in search of the closest bus stop to get us to the border of Gibraltar. Two and a half hours later, we retraced our steps twice.....still no bus stop, damn MAPS. Ended up taking a $5.00 taxi to the main bus station. (Only to find out later we were there the whole time it was only another 10 steps across a street). 

At the border we went through customs quickly and walked across the run way of a small airport crossing into Gibraltar.  As we were walking through the town you could definitely tell that you had entered British Territory.  Once again we walked for an hour, about 4.5 km, to get to the cable cars in order to go to the top of the ROCK. The line to get on to the cable cars was long and moving slowly. Thankful there was a little shade otherwise we would have been standing in the direct sun for the next 45 minutes. 

There have been a few times on our travels where I feel the urge to pass out and this happened to be one of those times.  It usually happens when I am overheated and dehydrated. Jim had me sit down while he waited in line for our tickets.  Usually if I sit down and fan myself before I go down I am good.  I went over and sat on some blocks to wait.  I felt a little better and  we proceeded with our tickets to the cable car. CRAP another small wait until the cable car came back down and nowhere to sit. I leaned on Jim and distracted myself by watching these two little girls in front of us play. I made it on the cable car and thankfully it was just us and the family with the two little girls. As the cable car starts to make its way up, I start to make my way down, down to the floor in the corner.  I remember the little girl pointing and asking her daddy what was wrong with me.  As we neared the top Jim helped me up and the breeze actually felt great.  At the top we were greeted by Barbary macaques and  immediately found the bar where we enjoyed a nice cold glass of water and a bite to eat,  before exploring the ROCK. This day we walked 8.36 miles and it was worth it every sore muscle we had for the next few days.  My advice for Algeciras is pay the $7 Euros for a TAXI to get where you need to go.