Gibraltar

Gibraltar was easily my favorite place that I visited during my recent trip to Europe. It's a nice, clean, pleasant Mediterranean city.

Our cruise ship docked in heavy fog. My cabin was midship but I could barely see the bridge from the balcony. When I went to the top of the bridge, I couldn't see the stern at all.

Foggy Gibraltar Hides Part of the Ship

The fog was thinning by the time I went ashore with my son. At least, it was thinning on land. On the water it was still pretty thick. My son and I walked to the cable car station, paid the exorbitant fee, and rode to the top of the rock.

At the top station, we had excellent views of the Rock of Gibraltar and the surrounding water. We could see the city below, and we could see the west end of the airport. The fog still blanketed the ships.

Ships in the Fog

The Rock of Gibraltar is so famous. It shows up in the Prudential insurance company logo. I've seen it all my life in pictures and on TV. Well, here it is from my own camera. The cliff really is stunningly steep.

Rock of Gibraltar

After a while enjoying the scenery, we walked along the road on the ridge, to the south, looking for the famous macaques. It didn't take long. We reached a spot where the local wildlife managers had dumped a pile of food: potatoes, carrots, other vegetables. There was a small group of macaques and a larger group of people.

Gibraltar Macaque

I started taking photos, and immediately discovered that the macaques can move very suddenly and quickly. We had been warned about their tendency to steal food and other items, but apparently that warning wasn't heard by all. A large macaque grabbed a woman's tote bag, and while she was hanging on to keep it from being stolen, the macaque reached in and grabbed a candy bar. He then let the tote bag go and proceeded to unwrap the candy bar and eat it.

Eating a Stolen Candy Bar

There were other interesting events: macaques jumping on people, taking food from tourists' outstretched hands, and just wandering around. There was a female carrying a young macaque around as it tried to feed. There were nit-picking macaques. There was one episode where the mother macaque was angry with a male and expressed that emotion by making a gruesome face and clicking its jaw shut repeatedly. Sadly I missed much of this action with my camera because it was going on all around me, happening quickly.

Sleeping

Young Macaque Clinging and Nursing

Females with an Infant

Posing

I came away with lots of photos. It was quite a challenge, given their propensity for sudden movement. I would focus on an individual and wait for action, only to notice that there was a lot of action nearby among other animals. I would switch to them, only to notice that the animal I had started with was now active. I had my 70-200 lens, which was great for tight shots, but man was I working hard to get photos in focus as they kept moving around so much.

For me and my son, this rare chance to walk among semi-wild primates was the highlight of the trip.