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Gibraltar

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Arching sign for Gibraltar Museum, Gibraltar, U.K.

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Overview

Red pillar boxes, fish-and-chip shops and creaky 1970s seaside hotels: Gibraltar – as British writer Laurie Lee once commented – is a piece of Portsmouth sliced off and towed 500 miles south. ‘The Rock’ overstates its Britishness, a bonus for pub-grub and afternoon-tea lovers, but a confusing double-take for modern Brits who thought the days of Lord Nelson memorabilia were long gone. Poised strategically at the jaws of Europe and Africa, Gibraltar, with its Palladian architecture and camera-hogging Barbary macaques, makes an interesting break from the white towns of bordering Cádiz province. Playing an admirable supporting role is the swashbuckling local history; the Rock has been British longer than the United States has been American.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

  • Arching sign for Gibraltar Museum, Gibraltar, U.K.

    Gibraltar Museum

    Gibraltar

    Gibraltar's swashbuckling history unfolds in this fine museum, which comprises a labyrinth of rooms and exhibits ranging from prehistoric and Phoenician…

  • Upper Rock Nature Reserve

    Upper Rock Nature Reserve

    Gibraltar

    The Rock is one of the most dramatic landforms in southern Europe. Most of its upper sections fall within the Upper Rock Nature Reserve. Tickets include…

  • Trafalgar Cemetery, Gibraltar, Europe, May 2009

    Trafalgar Cemetery

    Gibraltar

    Gibraltar’s cemetery gives a poignant history lesson, with its graves of British sailors who perished in the town after the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, and…

  • Apes' Den

    Apes' Den

    Gibraltar

    The Rock's most famous inhabitants are its 160 tailless Barbary macaques. Many hang around the Apes' Den near the middle cable-car station, as well as at…

  • St Michael’s Cave

    St Michael’s Cave

    Gibraltar

    About 25 minutes' walk south down St Michael's Rd from the top cable-car station (or up from the Apes' Den), this natural grotto is crammed with…

  • Ibrahim-Al-Ibrahim Mosque

    Ibrahim-Al-Ibrahim Mosque

    Gibraltar

    Mainland Europe's southernmost mosque is a symbol of the racial and religious symbiosis of Gibraltar's past and, to some degree, its present. Opened in…

  • Europa Point

    Europa Point

    Gibraltar

    Gibraltar's southernmost tip, at the end of Europa Rd, hosts a mosque, a Catholic church, a 19th-century lighthouse, the restored 1878 Harding's Battery…

  • O’Hara’s Battery

    O’Hara’s Battery

    Gibraltar

    About a 1km (15-minute) walk south down St Michael’s Rd from the top cable-car station, O’Hara’s Rd leads up to the left to O’Hara’s Battery, an…

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