Tonight's picture was taken in August of 2008. Back then the Hospital did not have a child life playroom. So if Mattie wanted to play outside of his room, he did that in the hallways. Therefore when the child life playroom opened up in the Fall of 2008, it was a blessing for Mattie! As you can see here, Mattie designed a mask for himself out of model magic. He colored and decorated it and naturally tried it on. This mask remains in our kitchen today.
Fun Facts of the Day about Gibraltar: (1) Once an important base for the British Armed Forces, it now plays host to the Royal Navy. (2) Gibraltar consists of a long limestone mountain, which has as may as 140 caves. (3) Gibraltar and the Moroccan mountain of Jbel Musa are known as ‘The Pillars of Hercules.’ This is because it is believed that Hercules used them as his hand grips, when he decided to pull Africa and Spain apart. (4) The evidence of human habitation in Gibraltar has been traced to as far back as Neanderthal man. (5) The people of Gibraltar are British citizens and most of them want to stay that way.
Gibraltar is a peninsula. Which means it is surrounded by
water on three sides and is connected to land on the fourth side. In this
particular case, Gibraltar is connected to the Country of Spain. Yet Gibraltar
is NOT a part of Spain, despite the fact that Spain would like to claim this
very valuable port territory as its own. In fact there have been conflicts over
the ownership of Gibraltar for centuries and many countries have fought to
occupy it. Currently, Gibraltar is a British dependency and has been since
1704, although an elected House of Assembly controls most domestic affairs.
Although it is less than three square miles in area, the
Rock of Gibraltar has become a symbol of durability and permanence. With its
strategic location at the western entrance of the Mediterranean, “the rock”
offers great value as a military strong point. There is little wonder why it
has been such a great source of contention over the centuries. The
Gibraltarians refer to their territory as “the rock.” Literally when you look
at this peninsula, it is ALL rock. In fact, our guide told us that Gibraltar
has more tunnel roads cutting inside the mountains than it has roads outside and
around the mountains. This was of course designed very strategically, so those
on the Peninsula could protect and defend themselves from outsiders who wanted
to attack and claim their land.
When I looked at Gibraltar from our Ship, I have to admit it
looked like any seaside community. You know the type, with towns, villages and
developments surrounding large mountains. However, while driving around the Peninsula
it became instantly clear that this area is not really a seaside community at
all. But an area with a vital port, that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean
Sea. In addition, I feel that this British “Rock” has many similarities to our
American “Rock” in San Francisco. Every time our guide used the terminology, “the
rock,” I couldn’t help but think of Alcatraz in San Francisco. It too has the
nickname, “the rock.” Both (Gibraltar and Alcatraz) are solid fortifications
that were used for protection.
This statue was to memorialize the mass exodus of children
and women from the Peninsula during World War II. The “Evacuation of the
Gibraltarians,” from my perspective was a very powerful visual statement. The
statue captures the reunion between a woman and her husband. In tow, the woman
had her child with her, a child who most likely left the Peninsula when he was
a baby. The statue captures a reunion 10 to 15 years later and upon their
return, the dad isn’t greeted with open arms from his son. But instead his son
has his arm extended forward, pushing his father away. This child did not grow
up in the presence of his father and therefore though this man is biologically
his father, because of the circumstances of War, the child viewed this man as a
stranger. This statue captures the complexities of war and the impact that WWII
had not only on individuals but on the entire family system.
In 1704, during the War of the Spanish Succession, a strong
British naval force under Admiral Rooke captured the town and the fortress. The
Rock has remained in the British hands ever since, in spite of many Spanish and
French attempts to recapture it. This is a photo of the border check point into Spain. Our guide told us there is GREAT unrest between Gibraltar and Spain. Spain would like to charge every Gibraltarian over $50 to enter Spain and also a tax to use the waters around Gibraltar. Many Spaniards are employed in Gibraltar. It is easy for people of Spain to come in and out of Gibraltar, but it isn't as easy for a Gibraltarain to enter back into the peninsula from Spain. Gibraltarians can be detained for hours.
This photo captures a first for me!!! We drove on an airport
runway! Why? Because the run way serves as a road when planes aren’t taking off
or landing in Gibraltar. Amazing, no!??? Our guide, Eugene, told us that five
flights land in Gibraltar daily!
The ancient Greeks called the two sides of the Straits the
Pillars of Hercules. In the year 711, a Moorish army led by Tariq ibn Zeyad
crossed over from North Africa and began the conquest of Spain for Islam. The
name “Gibraltar” is derived from “Gebel-Tarik,” which means Tariq’s rock. He
built a strong fortification to secure his communications with Morocco. The ruins
of the Moor’s Castle illustrated in this photo represent part of this
construction.
The port area and residential areas are new additions to the
Peninsula. They were created by land fill. I am referring to all the homes,
apartments, and high rise buildings you see in this photo! These were built on
land fill.
As my faithful readers know, I LOVE lighthouses. This red
and white cutie, Europa Point Lighthouse, is still in operation today. It is the only British lighthouse off
the mainland that is still in operation today!
“The Rock” itself is a natural fortress 1,396 feet high,
with a sheer vertical face to the east. Today the town of Gibraltar has about
30,000 inhabitants.
It is a rather amazing concept that depending upon where you
are standing on the Peninsula, you are seeing different countries! This is a
photo of Spain from “the Rock.”
Europe is only eight miles from Africa at this point. This
photo illustrates that we were standing in Europe and across the way, we were
viewing Africa. A totally different continent!
A rather shocking sighting on Gibraltar is the wild Barbary
Monkeys that roam the Peninsula. These monkeys have been present for centuries!
They are VERY comfortable around people and cars, as you can see! However, as
our guide reminded us, these are WILD animals and have been known to bite,
scratch, and seriously injure humans. I couldn’t get over people who went up to
these monkeys today and tried to touch them or fed them. All VERY bad ideas
accordingly to our tour guide. Our guide told us what happened to a recent
tourist who extended her arm to one of these monkeys. This monkey literally
tore open her arm, blood was pooling everywhere, and she had to be rushed to
the hospital for emergency surgery. This is ALL I needed to hear, I got out of
the bus once to experience these monkeys, but I wouldn’t leave the bus a second
time. I wasn’t alone in this feeling!
Peter snapped a photo of me with my parents today. We toured
St. Michael’s Caves. Fortunately I have experienced both Howe’s Cavern and
Luray Cavern in the United States. So I understood what I was viewing. Mattie
loved Luray Cavern and found such natural formations fascinating and
intriguing. St. Michael’s Caves are like our U.S. caves which reveal beautiful
stalagmites and stalactites.
As you can see, some of the passageways we walked through
were tight and narrow and others led to huge open and cavernous spaces!
Isn’t this an amazing amphitheater? The acoustics in this
natural space are incredible. We were told that concerts are performed in this
space even today!
Stalagmites are limestone deposits that accumulate from the
ground up and Stalactites are limestone deposits that form from the ceiling and
drip downward. As water comes through the ground, it picks up the calcium
carbonate in the limestone, and when it reaches the cave it is exposed to
oxygen. This causes the calcium carbonate to precipitate out of the water and
begin to form such glorious deposits. Deposits that took thousands of YEARS to
form.
Close up of the stalactites!
Gibraltar is home of the Barbary Apes. These are tail less
monkeys which are native to this Peninsula, but not to the rest of the Spanish
mainland. These monkeys freely walk the streets with the people and the buses!
Legend has it that Britain will retain the Rock (Gibraltar) as
long as the Apes live here. At one point during War II, they seemed to be dying
out. Fearful of poor morale at a critical time, Winston Churchill gave the
legend a bit of help by bringing in ape-reinforcements from North Africa in
1944. Today they number about 60. I was thrilled to be on the bus as we passed
the ape den! These monkeys were jumping all over the bus roof, were hanging
from the windows, and really wanted ON the bus!
I entitle this photo, “the contemplative ape!” I just love his
face and eyes. In so many ways, we weren’t only observing these apes today.
They were observing us! Bringing a plastic bag of any kind to the area where
the apes live is a HUGE mistake. We saw people carrying such bags get attacked.
The bags were taken away by these apes, broken into, and any food within the
bags were taken and eaten!
These monkeys roam FREELY! There are NO fences, gates, or
people to protect you from these monkeys. Therefore you have to use common
sense and not provoke these creatures in any way, especially moms carrying
babies. They were SUPER protective of their young. If Mattie saw this threesome
today, he would have said….. “this is a baby with his mom and dad. Just like
me!”
The apes know that the tour guides will feed them, which is
why they jump on the buses that pass by. These monkeys are relentless! Our
guide had dried prunes and as soon as the monkeys saw the fact that he had this
fruit, they went wild. As you can see, one monkey put his arm into the bus to
grab the prune and eat it.
My last photo for tonight is that of a “Gibraltar Puss.” We
have had many cat sightings on our trip! This cutie looked under nourished to
me and if I could I would have taken him home.
We are now back at sea, steaming to Southampton, England.
It will take us two straight days to return to the port of Southampton! We fly
home on Saturday afternoon. We had no cell phone coverage today in Gibraltar
and of course we not get cell phone coverage while at sea. So this is three
days without my Blackberry. That alone is a feat in and of itself. Then factor
into it that as soon as we dock, I then have to board a plane and fly home over
water. I am not the traveler I once was. Far more makes me anxious and uneasy
since Mattie’s death. Also I have found that this 14 day cruise has exhausted
me beyond belief. The pace was very aggressive and I suppose unlike others who
know how to sit still and relax in a lounge chair, I am constantly doing
something. The Ship has a daily schedule of activities and literally if you try
to keep a schedule while also doing aggressive tours, it is tiring. I am living
proof! My joke is I need to return home just to sleep. It is my hope that I
have captured our stops adequately enough to give you a feeling for what we
have done in these past two weeks. I appreciate you reading Mattie’s blog and
the next time you will hear from me, will be from Washington, DC. Peter will be
doing the remaining blogs during our sea days.
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