When staying in the south of Spain its so easy to visit the rock of Gibraltar, situated on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula & bordering with the Spanish town of La Linea.
It covers an area of just 6.4sq. Kilometers & is made up mainly from Jurassic limestone some 200 million years old.
There,s a population here now of aprox. 30,000 inhabitants on the rock itself & around 6000 workers crossing the border from La Linea each day.
Gibraltar is steeped in history, an intertwining of civilisations & cultures dating back thousands of years & a very interesting military heritage.
From the year 711(when the Moors inhabited Gibraltar)there have been 14 sieges-the last one from 1779-1783 known as the great siege where a labyrinth of tunnels known as the «Great siege tunnels» were started & are in fact are perhaps the most impressive defence system devised by man.These can be visited on the upper rock.
After the successful tunneling during the great siege,a further network of tunnels was excavated inside the rock in the 19thC(a fortress inside a fortress) & for those with more time on a visit the «World War 2 tunnels»can be visited by prior arrangements with specialist guides from the Ministry of Defence.
Probably the most important tourist attraction are the world famous Barbary apes.

They are actually tail-less monkeys monkeys & many legends have grown up around them. They roam freely on the upper rock

& a visit to Gibraltar is synonymous with a visit to the apes den.

Maybe they arrived through a yet to be discovered subterranean passage(under the Strait of Gibraltar) from north Africa-to the St Michael’s Cave which is also well worth a visit with its stalagmites & beauty of crystallised nature.

Now, in the lower part of the rock, Casemates square brings us to the beginning of the main pedestrian street which is called «Main Street». Here you can find a variety of shops selling:- electrical goods, gold & silver jewellery,well known brands of ceramic,crystal, as well as the duty free tobacco & alcohol.

An inexpensive souvenir could be the  locally currency. The 5 pence piece, with the Barbary ape & the 1p coin with  the Barbary partridge , which is the national bird of Gibraltar.

If you want to get married here, there are no residency restrictions, just 24hours notice, if you present the required documents.

So take the opportunity to visit Gibraltar – Valid passport required.