Home thoughts from abroad is a new series on Travel Words featuring a single photograph that reminds me of a country visited and showing something that uniquely identifies it as being ‘abroad’.
When my daughter and I had a week’s break in Algeciras shortly before her first child was born, we took the opportunity to catch a bus to Gibraltar for a couple of euros. The Rock of Gibraltar is an unusual place and not without controversy being under British rule though situated at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula. The main street is a mini English High Street with all the well-known stores, though the prices are a little better without the added taxes. And the runway crosses the main road into town, so you are held up whilst planes take off and land.
People are crammed into ugly flats at the base of the rock with very little space and what was noticeable then were the different national flags being flown from almost every balcony! There are several natural places to visit and of course up on the rock itself you find the Barbary Apes and great views across the Straits of Gibraltar to Africa. I later discovered that Gibraltar boasts the only known street that has an example of a letter box from each British Monarch since they were first introduced in 1852 during the reign of Queen Victoria.
So maybe it is time for another visit.
All the above images have been edited using a sketch tool ‘pen and ink‘ in grey tones.
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