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Gibraltar was a rather strange stop. It was smaller
than we had imagined and was a lot like an island in the way that many
things had just run out of stock. Spain's reluctance to admit that
Gibraltar is British certainly doesn't help matters, with the border all
but closed sometimes. It was extremely touristy too, with "pedestrianized"
streets lined with duty free shops, cameras, clothing stores, and
souvenirs. In the day bus loads of people would go through town in huge
groups, meaning that we had a lot of people-dodging to do just to get
around town. Gibraltar was quite modern though, and it had a movie
theater, quite a novelty for us, especially as it was in English. The
last movie we had seen was in Athens. There was only one movie a day here
though, which should give you an idea of the tiny size I am talking
about. Most of the tourists just came over the border for the day to do
shopping and then went back again.
We found the fact that everyone spoke English a very
welcome change as well. We didn't have to struggle along, not being
understood. It gave me a greater sense of freedom, that no matter where I
went people would be able to understand me. For a change we could
actually read the signs easily, and there were no stupid mistranslations
into English. (It seems that worldwide a professional translator is
desperately needed, judging by the stupid mistakes we have seen.) Almost
all of the people living in Gibraltar were fluent in both Spanish and
English.
Another thing about Gibraltar was that it was cold,
at least compared to what we are used to. The temperature was still in
the 70s and even 80s during the day, but we found ourselves in long pants
and sweatshirts (at least, those that still fit us after a couple of
years in the tropics) with the boat shut up against the cold every night.
Even that was a bit of a refreshing change after being hot for so long.
Mom is still desperate for the tropics though.
We rented a car from Gibraltar to visit Seville, in
Spain. Walking across the border from Gibraltar to Spain always felt
rather strange. First we walked across an airstrip, Gibraltar's one and
only, with planes going all day. That was rather intimidating, it was
just so huge. Then we walked past a small booth with a lot of other
people, holding up our passports for the official to see. Often the
border official didn't even look at my passport, he just looked right
over my head. It seems like the only thing that they are checking for is
that you have a passport, not that it is yours. Then we suddenly found
ourselves in a different country. The signs were all in Spanish and
people didn't speak English. Anyhow, back to Seville. It was a big city,
very full of life, but it had lots of old buildings poking through, huge
and impressive. We visited the biggest cathedral in the world there. It
was full of people, tour groups even, and had obnoxious bright lights
detracting from the stained-glass windows, but the sheer size was still
impressive. There were massive columns, some of which were getting new
foundations, and some of the stained-glass really was beautiful. There
were big organ pipes too, reaching all the way up to the ceiling, but we
couldn't find the organ to match. I tried to imagine how it would have
been in the old days, before the hordes of tourists crowding you so that
you have to squeeze past, back when its primary use was still as a place
of worship, when the priests walked quietly around by themselves. We also
saw some old charts in Seville, from the days of the early explorations
of the Americas. They were all in amazing shape, in color, many with
remarkably intricate drawings on them of things like buildings, ships,
and even people, things which weren't even necessary. Others looked quite
primitive though, like someone had never quite gotten around to finishing
them. Mom and Dad also saw some flamenco dancing in a bar, not put on for
tourists that was quite good.
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