It is very pleasant to take a morning stroll when you're in a new place. It helps with orientation, blows away the cobwebs, and allows you to get a feel for the place.
So, whilst Ros is off on a dolphin safari - the waters around Gibraltar are full of them - I've gone for a walk around the market... in La Linea de la Concepción (don't worry, I have my passport!). Here, a Valladares can go relatively unnoticed, which is nice, and on a sunny day as this one is, it is nice to just potter around, drink coffee and such like.
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| Walking towards the Gibraltar/Spain border from the Spanish side... |
The journey here is interesting in itself. Head north up Winston Churchill Avenue, crossing the runway of the airport as you do so - yes, Gibraltar is that small - before you get to the border. You walk through the Spanish customs point, unmolested, and no one asks for your passport. Indeed, there doesn't appear to be anyone whose job it is to do so (so much for Fortress Schengen then...). And there you are, in Spain - it couldn't be easier, really.
La Linea is, unexpectedly, quite a bustling place, with its pedestrian precinct full of pavement cafés and shopping opportunities. And, unlike Gibraltar, where every third shop appears to be selling cheap cigarettes and alcohol - there is a huge duty differential between the two sides of the border - La Linea feels somewhat more 'real'.
In fairness, that shouldn't be taken as being a criticism of Gibraltar, which has begun to grow on me little by little, but it is, like other small enclaves, slightly difficult to get your head around.
But, I guess, I ought to head back to the Rock, with its fish and chips, its Marks and Spencer and the apes...
Adios, amigos!
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