Today we took the cable car up to the Upper Rock Nature Reserve. We had planned to hike up the Mediterranean Steps, but the bus driver advised against it with the kids. After seeing the steps from above, we were definitely happy to have listened to a local's advice!
The biggest draw to the top of the rock is the colony of macaques that lives there. They are the only "wild" apes on the European continent. They are fed by the parks staff (and by dumb tourists), so I'm not sure how wild they really are. Jasper was fascinated by the monkeys, especially the baby ones.
The view of the bay and out to the Mediterranean on the other side was pretty spectacular. You could even see Morocco in the distant clouds.
We had our own little monkey being carried around by her mom all day.
Our cable car ticket also included a pass to a number of attractions in the nature reserve. The first stop was St. Michael's caves, which for some reason was lit up like a disco with soft Jazz music blaring. There were hundreds of chairs set up in the biggest cave room, and we have no idea why.
Next, we had to hike to the Ape's Den that was another spot where they give the apes food and another chance to see them up close. Nearby there was a suspension bridge that was cool to cross, but was quite a pointless bridge since you could walk around it about 50 m away.
The trail around the nature reserve led us to a half dozen different batteries and up to the Great Siege Tunnels. The whole city was under siege from the Spanish and French for more than 3 years in the late 1700s, so the army got bored and dug a whole bunch of tunnels to get cannons in to more strategic positions up on the cliffs.
Jasper enjoyed wandering through the tunnels and asking about every cannon and all the historical soldier mannequins.
Of course, there were more apes by the tunnels too. Below, Jasper is trying to squat down just like an ape. We didn't catch him pickingbugs out of Ellis' hair and eating them (yet).
From the north end of the upper rock, you look right down on the airport. We got lucky to see a plane take off while we were up there. It was cool perspective to see the plane take off from above. The traffic was backing up at the border, since the only road into town crosses right over the runway. Apparently they are building a tunnel, but it was supposed to be finished in 2009.
We made a quick stop at the Moorish Castle on the way down, but by that time we were too pooped to climb the stairs to the castle lookout. By the time we wound our way back down to town we were hungry, thirsty and tired so we stopped in at The Clipper, a very British pub.
Jasper stayed asleep in the carrier for at least 45 minutes in the pub. Ellis and her Daddy sure look alike in the picture below.
I ordered a vegetarian English breakfast and Patrick got a chip buttie and a tea. Tomorrow, we'll be back to montaditos and tortillas.
After googling how to properly drive on a roundabout, and figuring out how our headlights worked (10 minutes after sunset), we drive back to Cadiz, returned the car and made it home safe and sound.
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