Cross Countries

We could have had breakfast at the hotel (more bread and cheese), but for not much more, we loaded up on organic fruits and snacks from La Ortiga grocery store on our way out of Seville.

Southern Spain is largely scenic rolling countryside. As we turned from one highway to another, we randomly spotted some decorative steeples poking up above the trees. We proceeded to investigate, and found  a monastery (Monasterio de las hermanas de Belen) founded in the fifteenth century!

The main gate is from the sixteenth century, as is the church that stands there now. Stunning! With a picturesque courtyard that was so quiet and protected.

Mindy noticed that a small door was ajar within the main doors of the church and so we explored this quiet sanctum. 

(I took that photo inside the church before I read the sign requesting no photos. Oops.)

We only got the chance to explore a small part of the whole monastic compound.

Back in the car after this unscheduled stop, we drove though fields of wind turbines and the occasional giant bull sign.

 (Presumably to warn drivers that there may be cows on the road?)

Out of the blue, Mindy cried out: “Oh my god! Look at the size of that rock!” (Or, at least, that's the "radio edit" version of what she said.) And there it was – the Rock of Gibraltar rising out of the sea.

Slightly disappointed that we didn’t get stamps in our passports for passing out of Spain and back into the United Kingdom (Gibraltar is an overseas territory of Britain), we were in Gibraltar!

Land is at a premium in Gibraltar, and so the airport runway is placed on the only piece of land long enough – though it is bisected by the main road into the city. Here is Mindy walking across the runway:

If Mindy weren’t pregnant, we might have hiked all the way up the rock. As her stamina isn’t quite what it used to be (the additional weight doesn’t make it any easier for her), we climbed aboard the cable car to the top.

And then Mindy saw the Barbary Apes for the first time:

Stunning views of the Rock, the Spanish coastline, and away in the distance, Africa – where we are going tomorrow!

We explored old tunnels used in World War Two to safely (ish) house soldiers…

…and the Apes Den.

We caught one of the last cable car rides back down, returned to Spanish territory (still no stamps in our passports) and got back in the car.

As day turned to evening, we arrived in Tarifa. Mindy brilliantly navigated the very narrow streets (I was happy that we had rented a small car and hadn’t upgraded to anything bigger) as we arrived at Room Tarifa Hotel in the old city centre.

At dinner on a street-side patio, we watched a young and clearly new couple at the table beside us – he, speaking in broken English and mostly Spanish, and she in mostly English and broken Spanish. He told her that he loved her with each toast of wine (there were many) and then she took her shoes off and placed her feet in his lap to be massaged. Of course, first, he used her shoe as a phone. I guess they looked approachable, as someone walked up from the street and sat down with them, holding hash under her nose and asking if she wanted to buy any. They debated price for a while, as she explained to the dealer that she wasn’t interested in paying very much as she is from Amsterdam, and can get her hands on hash for very cheap whenever she wants. Eventually the manager expelled the uninvited guest, and the couple wandered out shortly after – perhaps to chase him down and close the deal?