Rock star: Karen Martin is impressed by all Gibraltar has to offer

Rock star

Craving some winter sun, Karen Martin jetted off to Gibraltar to discover what this British outpost in Spanish terriority has to offer visitors…

There’s nowhere in the world quite like the rock that is Gibraltar. At the southern tip of the Iberian peninsular, it is a sunny tax haven and gaming mecca with grand ideas to make its mark as an up-market tourist destination.

At 6.8 square kilometres, it’s just three times the size of the tiny principality of Monaco and you don’t need billions to play at the roulette wheel. The currency is sterling so you can leave your euros, dollars and yen at home. And there’s no need to get the

Ferrari out of the garage because the top speed limit in the tight narrow roads is 50kph.

This playground of the not so rich and famous is more Mark & Sparks and Next than Gucci and Prada and provides a warm welcome whatever your bank balance. Monaco has a Formula One Grand Prix,

Gibraltar hosts an international darts festival.

There are plans to attract upmarket hotel chains and, ingeniously, Sunborn Gibraltar offers a five-star solution to the shortage of development land.

This floating yacht hotel has nearly 200 rooms starting at £225, a casino, two restaurants and a spa.

It sits between marinas, buzzy cafes and bars barely a wingspan away from the airport runway.

Military History

Heavily defended for millennia,

Gibraltar is a strategic outpost at the gateway between the Atlantic and Mediterranean. One of the last remnants of the British Empire, there’s evidence of its military history in the fortress architecture and street names of the densely populated city. Many decommissioned buildings have been adapted for commercial and residential use. Packed into these historical buildings and modern high-rise apartments are 30,000 English speaking Gibraltarians. Religious buildings and traditional

“Across the Spanish, Portuguese deep waters of the Gibraltar and Moorish architecture are also scattered across the Strait is North lower reaches of the Africa and the Moroccan rock. The higher terrain belongs to the famous protected mountains barbary macaques can be seen on a clear and is watched over by an ancient Moorish fortress and unseen day. Spain is eyes concealed within just a short drive over the remaining military lookouts. This rockiest the airport of rocks conceals runway to the border” an extraordinary landscape. Hidden below the surface, is a network of tunnels built during hundreds of years of conflict to provide shelter and create an impenetrable fortress defended by cannon and gun. These are now museums to the brave and the besieged. 007 Connections James Bond author Ian Fleming learned how to deploy secret tunnels and ingenious gadgets for the defence of the realm when he was posted here as a young officer. During World War II, he worked on ‘Operation Tracer’, creating a ‘Stay Behind Cave’ where spies would remain concealed in the event of German occupation. This recently discovered bunker was never needed but inventions to make it possible included self-heating soup and a bicycle with a leather chain to silently charge up a radio to communicate intelligence to British forces. Fleming returned to Gibraltar later in the war for Operation

Goldeneye, a mission to keep the Spanish out of the war and Hitler from invading. His wartime adventures provided rich material for his iconic fiction and he named his Jamaican home and one of his books after this covert exercise. Casino Royale could as easily have been set in Gibraltar as Monte Carlo and, much later, the Rock played a central role in the opening credits of Bond movie ‘The Living Daylights’.

Another Bond connection is a romantic one. 007 star Sean Connery married both his wives in Gibraltar and Roger Moore spent his honeymoon there. Weddings can be arranged without fuss within a day at Gibraltar City Hall or other venues around the city. The City Hall also houses the National Art Gallery and portraits of the city’s mayors including a

striking example of Gibraltar’s own Grace Kelly. Former Miss World beauty queen Kaiane Aldorino Lopez may not be a princess but she was Mayor from 2017 to 2019.

DISCOVER MORE ABOUT GIBRALTAR HERE:

visitgibraltar.gi sunborngibraltar.com/en awcp.gi spiritoftherock.gi mamalotties.com/about

Multicultural Hub

Across the deep waters of the Gibraltar Strait is North Africa and the Moroccan mountains can be seen on a clear day. Spain is just a short drive over the airport runway to the border. The city is home to a harmonious diversity of cultures and religions. Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Jewish communities thrive there, many blown in on the winds of centuries of seafaring trade.

Varied British, African, Asian and European influenced cuisine is on offer in a wide variety of restaurants. Gibraltar’s own celebrity TV cook Justin Bautista shares a unique fusion of spicy food in books of traditional recipes “Gibraltar may be tiny but its past significance as a neolithic haven, mythical gateway from his grandmother to the underworld and embattled military fortress than a million annual Lottie’s kitchen. makes it a remarkable visitors with a Owner of Spirit of the Rock craft rock of ages” spectacular light show highlighting gin distillery Peter the cathedral-like rock Millhouse provides a formations. This natural fascinating history of ‘mother’s wonder is also a theatre with ruin’ in an entertaining tasting an auditorium seating 600. Recent experience. His aromatic gin is performers include comedians Sarah pretty good too and a bargain at Millican and Michael McIntyre. duty free prices. Another natural amphitheatre is

Irish pubs, fish and chip in the Alameda Botanic Gardens takeaways, chic tapas bars and where carefully tended terraces are a restaurants from everywhere ethnic scenic setting for open air events and crowd the streets and squares. weddings. Standouts are The Chimney Tapas Above the gardens is a sanctuary Bar where fresh seafood and superb for monkeys, snakes, parrots and seasoning make delicious dishes other rescued, injured or displaced and The Queen’s Picturehouse, a creatures lovingly cared for at the converted cinema where history and Alameda Wildlife Conservation cuisine entertain and delight. Park. Here, visitors can get up close

In this little Britain there are to rescued exotic pets and threatened the red telephone boxes on street species being bred as part of a global corners and bobbies on the conservation programme. This is a beat wearing traditional domed charming and fun place to observe ‘custodian’ helmets. Tourists flock wild and domesticated animals to snap selfies with these quaint thriving in a safe environment where colonial throwbacks. important conservation work is taking place. World Heritage Site Beneath the clean deep waters of The natural wonders of Gibraltar the Strait, dolphin and tuna flourish are truly remarkable. Gorham’s without fear of industrial net fishing. Cave Complex is a Unesco World Great pods of dolphin frolic like Heritage site where evidence of kittens around the hulls of tourist Neanderthal and early modern boats and whales can also be spotted human colonies spanning 120,000 hunting in one of the world’s busiest years has been discovered. Greek shipping lanes. mythology describes Gibraltar as Gibraltar may be tiny but its past one of the pillars of Hercules which significance as a neolithic haven, divided Europe from Africa and mythical gateway to the underworld there is new evidence emerging in and embattled military fortress the tunnels deep within the cliffs makes it a remarkable rock of ages. of ceremonial rituals from this The entire civilian population was period. Archaeological artefacts evacuated during the Second World are on display at the City Museum. War and they returned to build a There is a clifftop viewing platform peaceful, welcoming and very British above the caves and a waiting list cultural melting pot where high and for the descent down 300 steps for a low rollers can enjoy a flutter at the scramble across the rocks to visit this tables and a cool beer or glass of fizz historic site. in the Mediterranean sunshine. It

High above the shoreline and may not have the glitz and glamour deep within the rock is St Michael’s of Monaco but it has a bigger place Cave, regarded in Greek mythology in history and plenty to explore as the gate to Hades underworld. above and below ground, on land Today it’s illuminated for more and at sea.