Gibraltar

The next two days are spent travelling the south coast, destination Gibraltar

Parked on the Marina overlooking the many yachts at La Linea geographically just a few hundred metres from British soil

Nina arranges her €1.95 Aldi snowman neatly with a sunny view of the Rock

Off we go over the border on foot to re-engage with British culture

It was actually too warm to sit in the sun here on Gib's Marina on a super calm day

There was no way Nina was going up to see the monkeys…

Apparently they wait for the doors opening on the cable car as it arrives and the brightest amongst them  quickly work out how they are going to rob you of your sandwiches, hilarious…

The vision of me grappling with cheeky monkeys and Nina screaming was quite vivid so we gave it a miss…

Can you believe a woman recently, dressed in a bikini top whilst visiting them, actually complained to the authorities when the monkeys ripped it off her…

Again hilarious, I wonder if the monkey turned up to court….

Our traditional past...

Beat this!

I succumbed to the usual pint here

But paid with newly acquired 'Funny Money'

Next day 'Fozz' takes us through the border crossing mayhem to spend some more time discovering the other side of the Rock away from the lacklustre shops and scruffy streets

Our Guys on a 'shout'

An almost airborne customs patrol boat

looking back from Europa Point

It took a hundred years to fill the Med

The Brits of old knew for sure the strategic importance of this place and I guess will never let go. At least for as long as we need the Suez canal for Trade movements

Back at the van we are quite exhausted as usual having clocked up some impressive walking stats on a two square mile cramped enclave

Lasting impressions….

This is probably the last time we'll visit Gib as its a novelty really for us travelling Brits. We took the opportunity to visit of all places, Morrisons, M & S, Pandora and the obligatory Eroski duty free alcohol section all in aid of stocking up for our Xmas week

As a point of interest Gib is a good place to visit due to its history but it is badly let down by scruffy streets, dirty pubs and tacky cheap electrical/booze shops.

Given the amount of gambling money from the big firms passing through this place (Tax avoidance) and good tourist income, it appears little is spent on the infrastructure. It reminds us of several places in the UK which are best avoided I'm afraid

However you can only really form this opinion if you actually visit here so don't be put off entirely, its worth at least one trip...