My final day in Granada turned into a quest to find free food. As I mentioned earlier, it was kind if an open day so after some shopping (didn't buy much) I stopped into what looked like a rather commerical spot but did have a lot of meats in the front refrigerator case and a ceiling full of hams. I ordered a beer and received a nice plate of country type pate and some white sausage and a piece of bread.
After another round while watching the barman discet a ham for service. I decided I earned a siesta and would try this again for dinner.
Turns out most of the cool older tapas bars are mixed in with the other crappy places and the tshirt and ice cream shops so you need to know where you are going.
(I had a nice conversation with a girl from South Korea that may be a fairly famous composer - even if it was mostly bossa nova but she said she had six albums)
[Hee Kyyung Na and by doing a quick google search - yeah it sounds like she was telling truth]
So because it is a bit of a blur I had free cold cheese torta, some sort of cold egg salad and some weird rice with mini sausages. And paid for salmon with avocado and caviar and a minced black sausage with spicy grapes - green peppers? - and dried fruits.
There was also dry sherry, red wine and a "combo de casa" which from what the bartender would tell me and I could sort out was red wine, sherry, vermouth, gin something red - probably grenadine - and a clear aromatic that I think is locally made topped with soda water and a lemon slice. It was very good but definately a one and done!
On the way home I did stop at Juanilla's and was hoping to have coffee and dessert but they didn't serve hot beverages? So I had dessert and sherry. (Remember Morocco is kind of dry, so I need to stock up my liver)
Home for a decent sleep and up for a 615 taxi and a 645 train to Algercias. 4 hours. Uneventful and rained most of the way. FYI Spain is on a weird time zone. It doesn't get light until like 830 and that's DST!
Algercias is just a port city not even in the guide books but it is adjacent to Gibraltar and home to some of the Morocco ferries.
My hotel was sparce but clean and comfortable and a five minute walk to both the train, the bus and the ferry. After a very quick turnaround I was on the local bus to La Linea - which the DMZ between Spain and the UK. It's a pretty easy immigration process - flash your passport a few times and you are in. The runway for the Gibraltar airport runs across the path in so they stop everything while a BA jet lands and once it clears we walk across.
I discussed later with my bartender that so far as I know there is no territory elsewhere that survives without developing its own identity. It's like picking up a few blocks of London and plopping them down at the base of the rock.
The rock itself is massive and looks like the Prudential rock. It was part of the two pillars of Hercules that originally marked the end of the Mediterranean. (not sure what happened to the other side)
So you have Europe, Africa, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean all converging on a British territory.
It has already been a long day so the first order is a late but proper English fry up breakfast with horrible English coffee and Sky News on the big screen.
After a quick walk down Main Street I decide to head for the cable cars to the top. It's about as you would expect for a tourist trap but the weather had improved and the views were amazing.
Like the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa they also have their own ape population. Cute enough to watch for a bit and they attack anyone with a plastic bag let alone food. Obviously an incredible defensive point there are some caves that show some of the military aspects but it was a three hour walk and I just couldn't. But I did make it to what are called St Micheal's Caves which are natural and just waiting to have a disco installed!
Back on the ground I shopped for my flag pin and started thinking about dinner - of course. After finally making the important purchase (and yes Gibraltar does have its own flag) I stopped into the Venture Inn for a pint of beer. Again after four weeks of Spanish it's like another world. Tough lady behind the bar but called me "hon-ne". Too bad the kitchen was closed so I wandered down the street to "the Nelson" for some fish and chips. Everyone I spoke with seemed to enjoy life on the rock. Outside the little town - pubs and very high end duty free shops - it is all high rise condos, hotels and a large marina. Personally I don't know. I guess it's the advantages of the sunny Med without having to be a foreigner.
As I made my way back across the border I felt a bit like being a refugee returned to a third world country after being allowed into the duty free shops at Heathrow.
At that is the end of the European adventure - almost! Crossing to Africa - kind of - tomorrow.
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