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Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Spain-Costa de Sol, Seville

This time I didn't take too long for this post to be done. Then again..it's a shorter post. Haha...


Anyway, on the 5th day, we travelled from Costa de Sol to Seville. On the way, we stopped at Gibraltar, a British overseas territory, located at the southern most tip of the Iberian Peninsula. This place is really interesting as it only covers 6.843 square km. During the War of the Spanish Succession, British and Dutch troops formed a confederate fleet and attacked various towns on the southern coast of Spain. On 4 August 1704, the Dutch and British marines captured the town of Gibraltar and claimed it in the name of the Archduke Charles. British sovereignty over Gibraltar was subsequently recognised by the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, which ended the war. Great Britain has retained sovereignty ever since, despite all attempts by Spain to recapture it. So it's really interesting coz just to get to the rock and the town on the otherside, passports are needed. And the place is really different, coz the people staying in Gibraltar can all speak British English and many of them are British. In fact, due to space constraints, the runway for planes arriving and taking off from Gibraltar is actually a road for cars too. So if there's a plane on arriving or taking off, traffic has to stop for a while.
That's the Rock of Gibraltar taken in Spain, a few km before we pass customs.


Overview picture of Gibraltar and the Spanish side. Only the tip with the rock belongs to the British.
Map view of the coastline of Gibraltar.

To the left and forward is North Africa. You can see a faint outline of land in the far distance. Weather wasn't good that day so visibility wasn't very good.

To the right is Spain.

There is also a mosque in Gibraltar, mainly for the Moroccan Muslim population.
There is also a cave situated near the top of the Rock. Here are some pics of the limstone cave.
A skull! Thought that it would interest Gen and Marisa. Haha... The cave was used as a military hideout during the wars.

Stalactites and stalacmites.

There is also a concert hall in the cave. Making use of the surrounding stalactites and stalacmites, the echo effect and the fact that it is so enclosed, music played here is fabulous.


A sign on the way out.

The Rock is also home to around 230 Barbary Macaques, known as 'apes', the only wild monkeys found in Europe. There is also a superstition which states that if the monkeys ever leave, so will the British. And there is also a story, dunno whether it is true, that the Queen ordered more of these monkeys to be shipped and placed in Gibraltar when the number of monkeys were decreasing in the past.

One monkey hiding behind a rock.
After Gibraltar, we headed to Plaza de España in Seville. In 1929, Seville hosted the Spanish-American Exhibition and many buildings were constructed for the exhibition in Maria Luisa Park. Plaza de España, was one of them and is the epitome of the Moorish Revival in Spanish architecture. A scene from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones was also filmed here.

Plaza de España

Close up of the fountain in the middle.
You can see the Moorish influence in the architecture.
Even the artwork on the bridge is beautiful.


There was also murals for each place in Spain, made up of elaborate painted tiles. These detailed pieces flanked the walls of the Plaza in a semi-circle.
One of the pieces. This is for Barcelona.


Yup, and this ends my 5th day and also my post. Haha...I still have like 7 days to go. Omg..is anybody bored yet?!


~ { 10:19 PM }
reflections @ 10:19 PM