48 Hours in Gibraltar with Simon Calder

welcome to one of the most spectacular and strategic places on the planet this british overseas territory is where europe faces africa at the gateway between the mediterranean and the atlantic i'm back on the rock to show you how you can spend 48 hours in gibraltar [Music] people sometimes say that their holiday begins from the moment they leave the airport but in this case the thrills start as you're coming in to land i've flown into many airports in my time but there's nothing quite like arriving in gibraltar the plane touches down on a runway partly built on reclaimed land squeezed between spain and the rock the eastern end is in the mediterranean while the western end extends into the bay of gibraltar with the atlantic beyond three hours ago i was in the uk now i'm at the deep south of europe when you come out of gibraltar airport you can turn right and head into spain or left for gibraltar itself and then walk across the runway that you've just landed on along winston churchill avenue that's just one of the many surprises you clock at the rock oh and one more the world's shortest intercontinental flight takes off from here destination tangier in just 20 minutes gibraltar is exactly halfway between london and the tropics almost at the southernmost point of the iberian peninsula the territory is shaped rather like an arrow pointing due south to morocco across the strait of gibraltar one of the busiest seaways in the world it's been british for more than 300 years and it's even got a uk postcode gx 11 1 a a yes everywhere in gibraltar has the same postcode including here in john mcintosh square the ground area is barely more than two and a half square miles but gibraltar packed in an amazing amount including one of the world's great natural icons the rock which soars almost 1400 feet from the sea that's rock with a capital r gibraltar has plenty of tempting places to stay in the 1930s politicians celebrities and royals realized that gibraltar was on the way to practically everywhere and they needed somewhere to stay and that's why this palace with a view was created the rock hotel the location is elevated on the western side of the rock facing out towards the southern tip of spain and the swimming pool is actually downhill from the hotel discreetly located on the edge of the botanic gardens the rock hotel boasts the longest celebrity guest list in the south so winston churchill errol flynn sean connery have all stayed here but not in the same room at the same time and in 1969 john lennon and yoko ono exchanged vows here but you don't need to be fabulously rich and famous to stay at the rock hotel whether you book direct or as part of a package if you want to stay on the water that's possible too now if your super yacht is inconveniently tied up in some other glamorous marina that's not a problem in gibraltar because you can check in to the five star sunborn a floating hotel with plenty to keep you occupied including a spa a casino and the top deck barbary restaurant [Music] the sun born tied up here in 2014 she has a fully fitted bridge and an engine room but her main purpose is delivering top class hospitality and also on the top deck your very own infinity pool if your budget is well finite there's still a good choice of mid-range options in gibraltar on this occasion i'm staying in a relative newcomer to the gibraltar hotel scene but a familiar budget brand the holiday inn express which has all the essentials a power shower wi-fi and breakfast included in the very reasonable room rates and the view rock star standard the best way to get to know gibraltar on two wheels and if you think the terrain looks daunting don't fret electric assistance is at hand in the shape of top of the range e-bikes gibraltar only has about 30 miles 50 kilometers of roads and an e-bike is a great way to make the most of it at a very human pace the man with the e-bike plan is stuart headley well simon we're going to give you a premium e-bike from recent muller and we're going to give you three hours of exhilarating uh fun stopping here first at catalan bay where we've got this 20 million year old sand dune that was captured before the mediterranean filled in we'll take you over to europa point with a majestic views across the morocco and then all the way to the top without breaking a sweat in an environmentally friendly way you can rent a bike by the hour from ebike gibraltar or sign up for a guided tour but if you prefer to let someone else do the driving a taxi guide can give you access all areas now shopping is all part of the fun in gibraltar not least because there is no vat and to show me the retail highlights i'm lucky enough to be guided by gail francis tiron who you probably remember was miss gibraltar and represented the territory in miss world and miss universe so tell me where we are and what you're going to show me we are now at the entrance to the city center right beside the old city walls and we're outside the public market which has been here since the mid-1920s and it's sort of the start of a shopping highlight because gibraltar is all about everything it's like a little london we've got jewelers we've got moroccan green grocers it's all very very diverse very varied and i really want to show it off you'll find plenty of designer shops john galliano the dior designer was born here but there's much more to the territories retail offering than the familiar brands you can find plenty of intriguing individual stores gibraltar now has a distillery which uses a home-grown plant to create a unique gin so are you saying that spirit of the rock gin is both literally and metaphorically the distillation of gibraltar i think so i hope so it's made with passion and love my grandfather he opened the first ice cream shop in gibraltar in the 50s and now we've opened the first distillery in gibraltar so you know it's genetically part of my dna to to do things like that for gibraltar yeah so why not why not a gin a nice one nothing like the spirit of the rock to sharpen your appetite giovanni batista sacarello arrived in gibraltar from northern italy in 1817. his descendants have created a coffee shop in a formal warehouse on the street known as irish town where you can get fresh daily specials and if you're lucky meet the owner sacarella's i think is a very authentic place it's grown organically out of a company that was here so long ago producing roasting and preparing coffee and it was a way for us to carry on thriving you can still get top-notch fish and chips in gibraltar but more exotic options are available in the side streets if you don't eat meat meet the casbah gibraltar's only 100 vegan restaurant where i recommend the big black burger containing black beans and quinoa perhaps with a couple of kaz balls on the side those are the signature falafels and all in a convivial cavern gibraltar is wrapped in history come and see some of the heritage highlights since civilization began in the mediterranean the rock of gibraltar has witnessed the ebbs and flows of peoples and ideas the phoenicians the greeks the romans and the moors of north africa who named the rock jebel tariq mountain and left a rich layer of history that's highly visible today this is the oldest structure in the territory it was built by the moors in 1333 after they recaptured gibraltar from the spanish the moors began the fortification of gibraltar building mighty walls presided over by this castle four centuries later under british control gibraltar's defense went underground if you inhabit a small fragment of territory surrounded on three sides by the sea and you've got some enemies you can expect to be besieged and that's happened to gibraltar 14 times most recently in 1779 with the great siege involving 14 000 spanish troops to defend the rock army engineers dug tunnels to provide gun emplacements and after nearly four years spain abandoned the siege [Music] during the second world war the british created an underground city a three-dimensional maze with 30 miles of tunnels nature has also carved out some impressive subterranean spaces as show caves go saint michael's is definitely premier league but what puts it in a class of its own is that this is a show cave where you can see a show yes they've got a 700 person auditorium [Music] in ancient times the inhabitants of the rock dwelt in natural caves they provided an excellent living location for people though not quite people like you and me skulls found in gibraltar indicate that neanderthal man and woman thrived here in gorham's cave on the east side of the rock archaeologists have found evidence that has helped modern humanity understand how neanderthals lived tens of thousands of years ago the location which may have been the last refuge of the entire species is now on the unesco world heritage list the custodian is dr geraldine finlayson director of the gibraltar museum everything that you can see behind us right from the very top of the rock where you can see little guns sticking out at the top that's o'hara's battery and all the way down to sea level is part of gibraltar's world heritage sites and that's world heritage site the name sort of gives it away is unique in the entire world and especially unique about it is its relationship with the neanderthals modern humans in gibraltar are treated to 21st century indulgence mainly on the west side of the rock including at the hotel of that name perfecto thank you you've heard of a tequila sunrise well this is a gin on the rock but you can enjoy it while watching the sunset over the bay of gibraltar [Music] spain provides gibraltar with much more than just a good view the tapas habit has caught on here but with a twist in little bay indian tapas bar at ocean village i met the general manager kelly whelan what we have here we have a selection of our starters which are great for sharing all indian food is great food to share with your friends with your family so this is a selection of our own starter platters so here we have this is um okra so you'll know it as ladies fingers and we call it jaipuri bindi so it's just literally slices of okra that have been deep fried in a gram flour batter spiced lovely and crunchy these are really really they're healthy and a little bit naughty you like this jabuta has a very good like history of it's got there's an italian mix in there there's a spanish mix in there there's the um from morocco from africa and gibraltar does have its very own place it's got its own national dishes but we just wanted to bring a little taste of north india over into beautiful gibraltar and finally tell me about this drink what have i got here so this is our signature cocktail okay so this is um our barman he he makes um a blend of the spices we use in the kitchen he melts us down into a syrup and then to that he adds fresh ginger we've got cucumber we've got ginger syrup ginger ale topped up with soda lots and lots of vodka to give it that kick and bitters on the top it's an amazing amazing cocktail masala a masala mule the outtake on a moscow mule did you get the kick to find out more about gibraltar's place in the world i'm dining with dr jennifer valentine director of the gibraltar garrison library in the rendezvous restaurant gibraltar is a special place special people everybody is welcome and can enjoy lovely food when they visit so come to gibraltar and eat the world well come to gibraltar and be part of a globalized world and at the center of this globalized world gibraltar's great diversity is reflected in the many places of worship maltese and genoese catholics worship at the cathedral of saint mary the crowned protestants convene at the anglican cathedral of the holy trinity gibraltar's jewish community has been here for centuries as symbolized by the flemish synagogue in the year 2000 a hindu temple was opened in the territory and members of the islamic faith share a mosque with a view at europa point in sight of north africa [Music] one more religious connection just outside the city gate is a cemetery where each october there's a commemoration of what was called the great and memorable sea fight of trafalgar in 1805. although he won the battle admiral lord nelson was fatally wounded on his flagship the victory gail francis tiron picks up the story what happened next was that the hms victory was towed back to gibraltar to be repaired at roche bay and in the meantime the admiral's body was pickled inside the barrel of brandy now once a victory was repaired they also had a couple of people who sadly died of their wounds from the battle and they are buried here and in fact here we have one of the tombstones and this one belongs to a captain thomas norman of the royal marine corps step aboard the cable car which runs every 10 minutes or so throughout the day to the upper rock reserve since 1966 this swiss-built conveyance has been hoisting visitors from sea level to the top of the rock where the air is rare and so are the views nothing to see here well maybe something this extraordinary geological formation the mediterranean sea half of the spanish region of andalusia the southernmost tip of europe north africa and beyond the atlantic ocean apart from that nothing much to see about five million years ago the view would have been very different the mediterranean had dried up and europe and africa were connected by land which eventually eroded and gave way with spectacular results as dr geraldine finlayson told me when the strait opened that would have been a magnificent spectacular waterfall never seen or heard of in the history of the earth as the atlantic would have poured in to fill the mediterranean sea in some uh authorities speculate that it would have taken not more than a year to fill the entire mediterranean sea so that must have been spectacularly roaring waterfall like none other has ever been seen in the history of the world actually there's a rather different version of that event which i can tell you about from my window here in the monts calpe suite in antiquity hercules realized that the mediterranean desert could be filled if only the land between africa and europe were removed so in one hand he grasped mons calpe gibraltar in the other mons abila a mountain in africa and with all his might he pulled them apart creating a rift which survives to this day and here in the mons calpe suite you can recreate that every weekend with your brunch talking of legends there's one surrounding gibraltar's celebrated barbary macaques these tailless monkeys from north africa comprise europe's only colony of primates were they ever to disappear from the rock it said the british would leave one reason they're cared for tenderly by the territories government they co-exist comfortably with humanity though of course they should be treated with respect and never fed a magnificent hunk born in the jurassic era and towering over the mediterranean no not me the rock of gibraltar location for one of the world's greatest urban hikes the thrill seekers trail it comprises ancient paths and centuries-old military tracks embellished with 21st century structures that provide high altitude thrills and vertical views and as part of the thrill seekers walk the skywalk opened by the actor mark hamill who plays luke skywalker in star wars [Music] this is a particular thrill on a windy day it's the windsor suspension bridge which is strung out across a 50 meter gorge between two batteries and of course gives gorgeous views [Music] when you're looking down from the heights you might make out a garden in the city marking the home of the queen's representative in gibraltar i have a very special invitation today to meet the governor and commander-in-chief of gibraltar vice admiral sir david steele in his residence the convent after a distinguished naval career and serving as chief executive of leeds castle in kent sir david took up his governorship in gibraltar in june 2020. i've never come across a more genuinely warm and welcoming people than i have the gibraltarians they are astonishing they've got big smiles and very big hearts and they welcome anybody to gibraltar as a visitor or as a business person quite astonishing the offer to anybody coming here today is something that would surprise i think many travelers who've overlooked gibraltar in the past and just want somewhere to come which is slightly different as soon as you get off that plane you are into a different period of history every corner you turn there's nature in abundance too two centuries ago another governor george don decided that the people of gibraltar needed more fresh air and open space so he designated the alameda as gibraltar's botanic gardens a little later the italian landscape genius giuseppe cordali was brought in to create an exquisite escape the need for fresh air and open space continues the alameda provides a beautiful green oasis gibraltar is noted as the takeoff point for many southbound birds since it has the shortest migration route to africa but some birds and other creatures have found refuge in gibraltar itself part of the alameda is given over to the animal wildlife and conservation park caring for rescued birds and mammals think of it as a zoo with a difference says the manager jessica lipa we were originally set up to house confiscated species they're the long-term attacks the african grey parrots that were found on ships and they were destined for animal testing and the illegal pet trade so i like to say it's you know a zoo with a you know a stronger heart i think the park has a really important role to play in gibraltar we do a lot of education with the local schools we have also important things that they can do in their everyday lives to make you know to make a difference in the world as well so much for the land time to enjoy the water if you've always wanted to explore the sahara gibraltar makes it easy hundreds of tons of sand from the north african desert have been brought to fill sandy beach my favorite in the territory and besides the swim in the med you can try stand up paddle warning tom talk us through why anybody would want to paddle board in gibraltar yeah well welcome to sandy bay uh this is our playground so this is where we teach people to paddleboard it's nice and calm we've got some nice groins that keep keep the water nice and flat which is perfect for paddle boarding and when you go out we have dolphins whales turtles it's a brilliant place to paddleboard [Music] time to leave it to the professionals aboard a dolphin adventure citations no the bay of gibraltar is a rich feeding ground and in between meals they seem to enjoy the attention of us sightseers we have a huge population of dolphins here we've got three main species we have the common dolphin the bottlenose dolphin and the striped dolphin and there really is a very large population of them in the summer there's thousands of them here we have very deep very clean water here and that's what brings them here there's huge fish stock and these guys are basically here for food for lunch so that's what brings them initially it really is a hot spot for the world for dolphins but not massively well known [Music] at this extraordinary moment in the 21st century gibraltar feels to me like the right place at the right time nature heritage and indulgence are all here in abundance and in britain's multi-dimensional place in the south we sense that lands seas and cultures converge to spectacular effect [Music] you

Channel: Visit Gibraltar

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Length: 27min 10sec (1630 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 08 2020