Day 18: Dia de Caminatas Accidentales

For those who doesn't know what the title means, it means the day of accidental hikes. Or I think it does, google translate isn't always right.

Today we decided to go to the top of the Gibraltar rock. We took a gondola thingy up to the top, which was cloudy and chilly, but I prefer that over hot and humid any day. At the top, we just explored the views, cafe and gift shops. We sent some postcards, which I don't get why since we'll get home before the postcards. The view was amazing; we saw the boats, city and beautiful sunrise. Then we decided to take the nature trail. One tourist attraction on that rock is the monkeys. There are a lot of them and they are so cute and fluffy looking, Unfortunately, I was not allowed to pet them. I really felt a connection with them as a fellow monkey (chinese zodiac), so I was able to get close to them. They are cute from the front but their behind, not too pleasant. One monkey I called the Kardashian of the monkeys, cause his behind was bigger than average. Also there was a big monkey who knew all the food hotspots and was eating all the fruits, I called him Cooper. Sorry buddy. Anyway, the nature trail had... stairs and uphill climb. Poop on a stick. When we finally made it to the top, we enjoyed the view from the skywalk. One part of it was closed off though, due to the glass floor cracking. My dad said its from little 14 year old girls chasing monkeys. I responded with "how much do you think girls weight?" We aren't that heavy. When we decided to follow the path down, we thought it went to the gondola thing. Nope, it goes all the way to the bottom. By the time we realized that, we were already too deep into the hike. So we powered through to the other side. Super fun. It actually wasn't too bad, but the stinky stairs were a pain. I blame the stair god, Stairy.

After that we got some quick lunch by the docks then took a taxi to the border. The crossing process took 30 seconds. They just gestured for us to go right through. Very secure as you can see. Once we got through the very secure border, we hopped on a bus to take us to Seville. It was four hours, but no one was on it so I got two seats to myself. Party in the USA (or Spain).

When we finally arrived in Seville, we checked into this super snazzy airbnb, where I got my own room! Oh ya (insert Vector voice). Once we were all settled, we decided to explore Seville. We went to a fancy tapas restaurant. The food was super fancy and had a bunch of stuff that was too fancy for me to understand. The tapas was surprisingly filling, so we decided to burn some calories and explore. We saw a fancy cathedral but it was unfortunately closed. We saw a lot of ice cream shop, but Dad said no. It was pretty late, so we didn't explore for too long and decided to turn in after an hour or two. Spain is so nice though! Its like a spanish France. Can't wait to see more of it tomorrow.


Souvenir Shopping 


Monkey 


View 


Top view 


Cathedral 


Monkey (not Kardashian)


Big pretty tower


Gondola thingy 

Comments

  1. I love the picture you took with your guide's granddaughter. I hope you have time to observe the life of the local people like their tradition, their custom, their like and dislike, or the way they express emotion, etc. I think one of the big benefits of this trip is that you two get to know each other. Just be curious, did you have time to do your laundry considering how small your luggage was?

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. gibralter is a very peculiar place. it is a tiny peninsula, completely locked in by land by spain. the entire area is 2.5 square miles (houston is 627 sq miles - thanks nameless wikipedia author! - which means 250 gibralters could fit in houston). all signs and spoken language are in spanish right up until the painted line in the road and physical "border" (waist high concrete barrier, like the ones you find on u.s. highways).

    inside, it's like an epcot center british village. from the border guards on in, you feel like you're in a legit london suburb. the funny thing is a lot of these 30,000 citizens are lifers. they've never even been to england! they speak the queen's english, have british passports, are manchester united fans... but are on a tiny peninsula completely surrounded by spaniards and have never been to england. so interesting.

    the rock of gibralter. i've had a fascination with it ever since my 10 year old amazing facts book explained. it's a pretty awe-inspiring rock. it feels like half dome in yosemite, but its out here on the edge of land all on its own. the climb was pretty epic. its a 450m steep ascent. the monkeys were a super fun and interesting feature. its pure joy you seen in kids' eyes and smiles when monkeys are around. seeing that in a teen is a nice throwback moment from when they were 8. it doesn't matter how awesome your kids are or what age they're at now - if you ever get to see the mischievous joy they had when they were 8 years old, it feels like a lottery win.

    this leg is like the final exam for this type of trip. its not a leisurely tour where you just follow an english speaker with a telescoping flag walking in front of you. its super interesting, if you like real life puzzles. you COULD go in 100 different directions, but realistically can pursue only 2-3. its real time, no prep. do you buy this bus ticket, this ferry ticket, this hotel, this airbnb? do you wait until you're in country to book or buy it, because no one in morrocco speaks spanish or knows anything about seville? is it worth it to stop at casablanca, or should we go straight to fez? how close can we cut the ferry across the strait of gibralter (not at all, it tales 2 hours to get
    on)? its a bit nerve wracking but i find much more liberating to just go with it, do your best, and enjoy whatever comes along the way.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow can’t believe you hiked down the Rock! Your knees must be sore. Looks like shoes we got for the trip are holding out.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 17: The Day of Uncomfortable Naps

Day 14: The Day We Became Zombies

Day 10: The Day of Rest