“The sea has testified that Africa and Europe have kissed” — Válgame
The Strait of Gibraltar, which lies between the southern coast of Spain and the northern coast of Morocco, is the only place where water from the Atlantic Ocean mixes with water from the Mediterranean Sea. The distance between the continents of Europe and Africa is a mere 8 miles – or a short ferry ride across the water at the Strait of Gibraltar.
Greek mythology is full of tales about gods and goddesses, heroes and villains including one of the arguably greatest, strongest and most popular hero who has ever lived. Hercules was half god, half human; a demigod, born to the king of gods Zeus and a mortal woman named Alcmene. He was a hero who had super human strength but who had to suffer on a scale no human had ever known before. Tormented by a horrible guilt, he was driven to take on twelve impossible challenges in a quest for redemption, later known as “The Twelve Labors of Hercules”.
The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow opening between the continent of Africa and Europe. It is located between Spain and Morocco and connects the Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea. The mountains on either side of the strait are called the Pillars of Hercules because according to the legend of Hercules, Hercules created it in order to complete his tenth labor. The first nine labors of Hercules were based inside the Mediterranean rim; however, the tenth labor took him beyond the outer limits of the known world to a territory no Greek had ever seen.
For his tenth labor, Hercules went all the way to the Spanish Peninsula, where he had to bring back the cattle of King Geryon, a three-headed monster. Destroying the Geryon to capture his cattle was half the challenge. The other half was getting there. To reach King Geryon’s cattle, Hercules had to venture beyond the Mediterranean Sea into the Atlantic Ocean, but one massive obstacle stood in his way: the mountain range that joined the continent of Africa and Europe and which sealed off the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean.
Hercules decided not to go around the mountain; he instead, went through it. He split the mountain into two with one blow from his sword, passed through the narrow strait, found Geryon’s cattle and brought it back. It was in this way that the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea were joined. The cliffs on each side are forever linked to Hercules and were known by the Ancient Greeks as the Pillars of Hercules. The Northern pillar falls in the continent of Europe and is known as the Rock of Gibraltar. No one knew, then, what was beyond them. To the Ancient Greeks, it was not only the gateway to the unknown; it was a portal between reality and myth. Having gone and come back only increased the reputation of Hercules.
“A good character, like a Gibraltar, will stand against the testimony of all the rascals in the universe, no matter how they assail it. It will stand, and it will stand firmer and grander the more it is assaulted.” – Robert Green Ingersoll
In 1000 A.C the first Phoenicians arrived by sea to the Spanish coast. They came with their ships in the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa and came to the vicinity of the Bay of Algeciras where they were met with the Straits of Gibraltar. Fearful the start of the new sea (The Atlantic Ocean) the Phoenicians did not dare to go “across” through the Strait. They held the belief that “Beyond the Strait there was only darkness and the “World’s End”. Quite different than today when the Strait is one of the busiest shipping channels in the world.
“Well, Gibraltar is a place which you either love or hate. I quite like it. It’s a rock that is essentially what it is. It’s a British colony.” — Nigel Short
On the European side of the Strait surrounded by España you can find not only the famous Rock of Gibraltar but also the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar – 3 miles long, less than a mile wide and connected to España basically by a sandbar that has been transformed into an international airport Gibraltar is a curious place and one that was an easy day visit from our base in Malaga.
On the surface, Gibraltar’s 30,000 permanent residents appear to identify more closely with Great Britain, despite being surrounded by sunny southern Spain. British chains line the streets, pub food is served in restaurants, and British soldiers patrol the territory. Spanish influence is most evident in the local Llanito dialect, a combination of English and Spanish and in the laid-back lifestyle (although, I thought, not nearly as laidback and friendly as the rest of España).
So how did this six square kilometer rock become a part of Great Britain? Well the position of Gibraltar guarding the entrance to the Mediterranean is certainly unrivaled and as such it has been fought over by Spain, France and Britain for many years with each one of them claiming possession. Back in 1704 Gibraltar was captured by the British Fleet during the war of the Spanish Succession and that was the beginning of a long rule by the British. This certainly hasn’t stopped other countries from trying to seize the country over the centuries. In 1726, 1779, 1805 and most recently in 1968 and 2002 when the citizens of Gibraltar were given the opportunity to vote on if they wanted to remain with Britain or be under Spanish rule.
In that last vote of 2002 the Chief Minister of Gibraltar summed up the feeling of the citizens when he said: There is more chance of hell freezing over than the people of Gibraltar accepting Spanish sovereignty in any shape or form.” It will be interesting as recent events have suggested that the current British government may want to abandon the current treaty and subject the 30k Gibraltarians to Spanish rule against their will.
So here we were traveling from Spain to Britain for a day trip! When we crossed into Britain (Gibraltar) the first thing on our agenda was to tour the “rock” so we booked a tour to see some of it’s sights one of the most famous of these being the Barbary (or Rock) Apes.
“So the theory is that the channel between Gibraltar and Africa was once dry land, and that the low, neutral neck between Gibraltar and the Spanish hills behind it was once ocean, and of course that these African animals, being over at Gibraltar (after rock, perhaps, there is plenty there), got closed out when the great change occurred. The hills in Africa, across the channel, are full of apes, and there are now, and always have been apes on the rock of Gibraltar — but not elsewhere in Spain! The subject is an interesting one. Of course those apes could travel around in Spain if they wanted to, and no doubt they do want to; and so, how sweet it is of them, and how self-denying, to stick to that dull rock, through thick and thin, just to back up a scientific theory. Commend me to a Gibraltar ape for pure unmitigated unselfishness and fidelity to Christian principle.” – Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad
The Barbary Apes were a curious sight found all over the cliffs and the top of the rock and even more curious was that they do not seem to want to leave their lofty home as we did not see any signs of the animals in the town. Local folklore has it that the colony would cease to be British if the monkeys were to leave the rock. Winston Churchill took it seriously enough to ship extra monkeys from North Africa to Gibraltar during the Second World War to stabilize the population that was in decline. Today there are about 200 apes making their home there.
Also located in the heights of the rock is St Michael’s Cave a series, or network, of caves made of limestone. St Michaels Cave is located on what is called the Upper Rock, inside the Upper Rock Nature Reserve of Gibraltar and sites at a dizzying height of well over 300 meters above sea level.
It was believed that the cave was one end of a passage of a subterranean nature that moves more than fifteen miles long and passes through under the strait of Gibraltar, and further legend says that the Barbary Apes entered Gibraltar from Morocco from this passage long ago.
The Rock of Gibraltar has long been considered to be one of the pillars of Hercules (see above), and this too adds to the mystique and legend, and since it hosted the cave, the caverns themselves were thought to be the Gates to Hades, or Hell, an entryway to the Underworld where the dead rested.
Underwater passage or Gates to Hell (I prefer underwater passage) – exploring the caves was worth the time as the formations and lighting were beautiful.
Being only 8 miles as the crow flies from Africa this part of Europe is the entrance point for many immigrants looking for a better life. Spain has become the new main entry point for asylum-seekers fleeing Africa, around 19,000 asylum-seekers arrived in Spain in the first five months of this year, almost as many as arrived there in all of 2017. This is an influx that European Union officials fear could exacerbate political tensions across the region over migration. If you think this sounds familiar you are not alone, immigration is not a problem unique to America. As long as it is human nature to strive for a better life there will always be immigration from a less prosperous country to one with more opportunity, and who can blame them.
“[Immigrants] who come from anywhere there is hunger, unemployment, oppression, and violence and who clandestinely cross the borders of countries that are prosperous, peaceful, and rich in opportunity, are certainly breaking the law, but they are exercising a natural and moral right which no legal norm or regulation should try to eliminate: the right to life, to survival, to escape the infernal existence they are condemned to by barbarous regimes entrenched on half the earth’s surface. If ethical considerations had any pervasive effect at all, the women and men who brave the Straits of Gibraltar or the Florida Keys or the electric fences of Tijuana or the docks of Marseilles in search of work, freedom, and a future should be received with open arms.” — Mario Vargas Llosa
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