Category Archives: United Kingdom

Europe, United Kingdom

UK: The Rock of Gibraltar

Before we started traveling, I never once thought that I’d someday be standing on a hotel balcony in Spain, while simultaneously looking at a British territory and the coastline of Africa.  But, that’s where I found myself folks!

The coast of Morocco
Coast of Morocco in the distance on the left and Spain on the right from Gibraltar

That’s the second time I’ve been close enough to visit Africa, but just haven’t been able to make it work.  One day Africa…one day!

Classic UK Phone booth, GibraltarGoing from Spain to Gibraltar, you really do get the stereotypical UK experience.  There are the cheesy red phone booths, Bobby’s on patrol, and dozens of Fish & Chip shops.  The Gibraltar Pound Sterling is awesome too–who doesn’t want a monkey on the 5p coin?!?

Visiting to the Rock of Gibraltar is synonymous with visiting the Barbary macaques that make the rock their home.  Other than us humans, the Barbary macaques are the only free-living primates in Europe.  Technically they’re monkeys, not apes, but just go with it–everyone calls them Barbary Apes, so we will too.

Approximately 300 macaques live there, so I knew we’d see them.  Only, I’d heard quite a few stories of attacks by greedy, territorial apes; that wasn’t something I was keen to discover.

Luckily, I didn’t have any issues.  Jon managed to climb up a small look-out to take a photo, and worked his way into the path of two apes that came charging after each other.  Slight body check by primate, and he was none the worse for wear!

The Rock of Gibraltar
The Rock of Gibraltar

In 1713, Spain signed the territory over to Britain “in perpetuity.” As long as the Barbary apes remain on the Rock of Gibraltar, the Rock will remain British Territory.  After WWII, their population had dwindled to less than a dozen.  Churchill ordered their numbers to be increased because of this traditional belief.  So, more monkeys were brought in from Algeria and Morocco.

Barbary Macaque, GibraltarToday they’re closely monitored and cared for by a dedicated veterinary team.  The Barbary macaque is on the endangered species list, so preservation is tantamount.

Beyond visiting top of the rock by cable car to visit the Apes, there are all sorts of old war tunnels, St. Michael’s Cave with impressive formations to visit along the way back to the residential/shopping district at the base.  We spent some time shopping, and then hopped a bus to Europa Point, the most southern point of Gibraltar.

St. Michael’s Cave, Gibraltar
Ibrahim-al-Ibrahim Mosque, Gibraltar
Gibraltar Cable Car

The Point has a few buildings, including the Ibrahim- al-Ibrahim mosque and the Europa Point Light House.  It is also the perfect spot to take photos across the Strait of Gibraltar of the Rif Mountains in Morocco.

Rif Mountains, North African Coast
Rif Mountains, North African Coast from Gibraltar

Having history, geology, and fun Brit shops the check out (Yes, we went to Marks & Spencer), combined with the scenery and the apes makes the Rock of Gibraltar a pretty awesome place to visit.

Happy Travels
~j

England, Europe, United Kingdom

British Museums

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Squatzi London PassVisiting the British Museum in London is free, and it is absolutely worth the time. (The website has A History of the World in 100 Objects which is pretty cool.) We wandered the entire museum. A few of the high lites – The Rosetta Stone, the Hoa Hakananai’a, Egyptian Art & Mummies. The museum even has a Haida Totem Pole from BC. We also went to the Natural History Museum, and the Tate Modern which are also free. I’d have to say of the three, the British Museum was the best by far.

During our shortened stay in London we managed to visit several other sites as well. Tower Bridge and Tower of London were interesting. And, the HMS Belfast The Imperial War Museum was kind of neat to see, but there were a trillion school kids on the ship with us and they were not well behaved! All of them were wearing their little school uniforms running around like little psychos all over the ship.

London BridgeThe most mundane part about London that was also one of the best=Marks & Spencer food shops. We need more grocery/food opportunities like this in Canada. M&S has outstanding policies for a retailer. Here’s a quote from their site:

We launched Plan A in January 2007, setting out 100 commitments to achieve in 5 years. We’ve now extended Plan A to 180 commitments to achieve by 2015, with the ultimate goal of becoming the world’s most sustainable major retailer.

Through Plan A we are working with our customers and our suppliers to combat climate change, reduce waste, use sustainable raw materials, trade ethically, and help our customers to lead healthier lifestyles.

I don’t know if shoppers actually appreciate that the food has no GMO’s, or that M&S support fair trade, but it was kind of refreshing. If we had not had to deal with the whole passport fiasco, and actually been able to enjoy another day in London, I’m sure we would have seen so much more.
England, Europe, France, Italy, United Kingdom

The order of things…

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First, I’m sure you all suspect that I’ve lost all hand function in a tragic typing accident, not true. I’m just overwhelmed at where to start with the whole travel recap. It would have been much easier to have kept an accurate journal, or have used the internet each day. Moola doesn’t grow on trees and internet access was 2£ for 15 minutes in places.

I’ve given up trying to repost the stories that come to mind, in the order that the countries were traveled. My mind isn’t that organized.   So now you get a random hodgepodge of travels. LUCKY!

Here’s the travel route, you put your own sequence together!

Vancouver, London, Paris, Milan, Venice, Orvieto, Civita di Bagnoregio, Rome, Vatican City, Pompeii, Naples, Rome, Frankfurt, Toronto, Vancouver.

England, Europe, United Kingdom

No one speaks English…

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No one speaks English, but everyone speaks Coca-Cola!

Apparently in England NO ONE speaks English. I’d say about 80% of the people are tourists and the other 20% are non-English or broken-English speaking. And that isn’t only at typical touristy destinations!

Coke logoTo make things even more bizarre, we’ve noticed that Coke has become more multi-cultural as well. Jon had a can with a logo in what we’re guessing is Hebrew (we couldn’t read it to find out the actual country), a can from Poland, and one from England. And, I had 2 from Canada (in the UK of all places) and one from Northern Ireland. The highest price we saw for a Coke was 4€ , so about $6 for a 500ml bottle..not even 600ml. At that price we were not buying!

Peach Iced TeaIn France, where our cola addiction was cheapest to feed, Diet Coke became Coca-Cola Light. I sure wasn’t drinking coke the whole while because EVERYWHERE had Lipton Peach Iced Tea as the Iced Tea of choice–vending machines, fast food places, street vendors. It was an Iced Tea drinker’s paradise! That 1.5L bottle was my last little souvenir from Paris. Delicious.  Peach=my favourite!

While we’re on the topic of beverages…water, normal, non-fizzy water was SUPER cheap at the grocery stores. We got a 1.5L bottle for 0.58€. That is barely over a dollar. Here it would have been easily $3. Ridiculous!

ps: I was brave and drank tap water in almost every city.

England, Europe, United Kingdom

Who needs sleep?

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We weren’t going to sleep day the day we arrived in London even if we had made the original flight. Rumour has it that if you just push through being tired for the first while until a suitable bed time then you won’t be as affected by jet lag. (That’s Jon’s theory anyway!) Pretty sure we were awake for 36 hours before sleeping.

We figured out the Tube right from Heathrow to our hotel, so we didn’t have to spend a fortune getting there. Of all the transit systems we used, London was easiest and cleanest for sure.

London Tube Map

So, we went sight seeing. We walked from our hotel all the way to Trafalgar Square and Picadilly Circus. In the process we saw Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey (which was already closed). And, we took loads of photos. (Yes, photos are on the way…we took almost 4000, so they’re taking a while to go through!)

England, Europe, France, United Kingdom

Tube & Metro Scams

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Who knew it was easy to figure out the Tube or even the Metro?!? (It was easier than this fricken keyboard!)

Every book has about a trillion beware of pickpocket warnings; nothing can prepare a person for the amount of scams on the metro. In London there were warnings, but everything seemed kosher. The police/bobby presence was pretty crazy. At most stations there were sniffer dogs and officers or transit police–not to mention closed circuit cameras everywhere.

Paris is a whole other ball game! First day some dudes tried to offer an “African tradition” by which they occupy both of your hands in some ridiculous friendship bracelet making crap with coloured thread. All the while one of the other ones pats you down and takes your shit. Obviously we did not fall for it. Then there are the pathetic looking gypsy girls who approach with a “do you speak eenglish?” and then they hand you a printed card with a sob story on it asking for money. These chicks are EVERYWHERE!

And you also have the metro beggars who put printed cards on the empty seats asking for money because they are out of work and raising a family etc etc. Then you have your run of the mill pick pockets. I busted one who was trying to get into a woman’s purse. He was none too impressed. True story.

The Paris metro is the dirtiest grossest transit system ever. Read on my friends…
England, Europe, United Kingdom

“Look kids–Big Ben, Parliament!”

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How could we go to London and not do all the touristy things like see Big Ben & Parliament? And true to total geekfest style, I’ve been reading up. Of course everything you read on the wikipedia is gospel! Who knew that Big Ben’s official name is actually the Great Bell? Or that it chimes on BBC radio every hour? Or that the bell weighs 13.5 tonnes? I’m sad that overseas visitors can’t go on a guided tour of the clock tower—only locals are allowed to, and only if they arrange a visit through their MP. Anyway, I’ll be seeing it soon enough even if I can’t climb to the top.