Rock of Gibraltar

We awoke in Gibraltar and it was AMAZING. I was afraid that I'd imagined it better than it would be, but alas, I had not. We disembarked and took the long-ish walk from the port into the city center. From there we caught a city bus. We met plenty of nice folks while waiting for the bus. One woman was visiting from Scotland and was just dying to talk talk to Americans about the love of her daughter's life: the television show Nashville. I am not kidding. Neither of us had seen it, but we told her the city itself was mighty fine. Too funny. Scottish accents are so strong that I can only get about every 3rd word and Jackson only gets about every 50th so it proved to be a bit of a tedious conversation after a bit. Ha! 

We then chatted with some folks from England who were also looking to get to Jew's Gate to hike the Mediterranean Steps up the Rock. The four of us got off the bus and headed the direction the driver and locals gave us. Our new British friends, Roger and Varina, were great additions to this adventure. He was a British Naval Officer in the anti-piracy division and she was a chemotherapy pharmacist. Jackson and Roger hit it off and left us girls in the dust. No worries, though, I enjoyed Varina's company quite a bit. We chatted easily as we followed the boys up the Rock. Listen, the people at the bus stop were friendly, but their directions stunk. We ended up climbing many dead ends and never got to the steps we were looking for! Seriously! One of our wrong turns took us up an area void of other people so the monkeys that the area is famous for had only us in their sights. Jackson made eye contact with one and greeted it. Before I knew it Mr. Monkey took this as an invitation and launched himself onto MY back. What the heck, Jackson?!?! I did what any sane person would: screamed like a little girl until the monkey got spooked and literally got off my back. Thank goodness the sun was so strong that day that I'd worn a hat to shield my face and fresh hair coloring so Mr. Monkey didn't get his wish: they like to pee in women's hair. SO GROSS. After that Jackson had strict instructions to fend off monkeys, not greet them.

After what felt like 45 years of climbing, some of them with a monkey on my back, we were suddenly at the top. Roger and Jackson were beside themselves that we missed the steps. Varina and I were just pleased to be done with the uphill part! The views at the top were beyond amazing. Roger came through and was able to point out Morocco (our first time seeing Africa) and a British nuclear submarine coming up in port. SO COOL. We lingered at the top soaking in the views before deciding to climb down the way we came up as everyone who did the steps we'd originally looked for came up swearing they'd never go down them (or up them again for that matter-ha!) due to a lack of sure-footing and guardrails. That was all I needed to hear...down the road we went!  We stumbled upon monkey central on the way down so we made it down faster than anticipated. I was just not going to have another near miss with urine hair. We lost our friends somewhere along the way down which was a bummer, but they were truly lovely. Their company made a long climb much more fun. 

We found our way back to a bus stop and back into town. Since Gibraltar is a British territory we figured their fish and chips would be great. We were correct. The mushy peas made me miss Mother England, though. They left much to be desired. We wandered around the city center for a bit before making the trek back to the boat. We decided that all the hiking meant we deserved a little time by the pool so we hit our new regular spots up for some late afternoon sun. Lovely. 

VIEWS

EXHAUSTED.

One of my top 10 views of all time

My best friend

Tired monkey

Angry monkey

Stalling at the top- dreading the hike down

I loved these trees

Not a fan of mushy peas

Sailing away from the Rock

Petefish

Hey we were on top of that earlier!

Goodbye old friend

HA!!!

Sunsets over the ocean never get old

We finally got cleaned up for dinner really late and headed for the dining room. We passed by the steakhouse which was one of the two upgraded restaurants on the boat. It was a $29 up charge to eat in those places and you needed reservations. The steakhouse didn't look super crowded so Jackson decided he'd go ask if we could have a table. I thought they'd bounce him immediately. Nope! They seated us right away and we had the best meal we'd had in ages. The lobster cake appetizer was honestly one of the best things I've ever eaten. We both loved it. We had a prawn (shrimp) appetizer that was also amazing. We had soups, salads, filets, lobster, potatoes, asparagus. You name it. We had a FEAST for $29 each. Hello, onboard spending account! Jackson even had a bottle of wine. Cruise Jenna and Jackson go all out. HA! We had excellent desserts and finally had our fill and rolled ourselves out of there. 

Date night

I even wore earrings! 

Dessert

The look of love

We took a couple of laps around the ship to try to ease with the digestion of our feasts before heading back to our stateroom. The onboard on demand selection was awesome so we watched a documentary on Presidential Chiefs of Staff until we fell asleep. Jackson told me as he nodded off that it was one of the best days of his life. Success! 

Happy boy!