Even though English Redcoats still march down Main Street for Saturday morning’s re-enactment of the ceremony of the keys, times have changed in Gibraltar. I was last here over 30 years ago, when it was a garrison town, reeking of England in the 50s.
Now the military has left and you’re more likely to hear Spanish spoken in the streets. Still, it does feel very British, with stores like Debenhams and Marks & Spencer a feature of the high street, and pubs dotted throughout the town centre.
And that’s set to continue. A referendum in 2002 saw 99 per cent in favour of staying part of the United Kingdom rather than sharing sovereignty with Spain and nothing’s changed, despite uncertainty about what will happen after Brexit.
Everyone I speak to seems quietly confident, new apartment blocks are springing up everywhere, rising on reclaimed land by the sea, and tourism is booming.
The Jewish community is also growing and now numbers around 800, with four active synagogues. Its historical record dates back to 1356, with the community’s request for financial help to pay a ransom for Jews captured by pirates. Then in 1474, Jews from Cordoba and Seville bought land here, before being expelled two years later.
But it was only after the Treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, which ceded the rock to the British Crown, that settlement began in earnest. In 1724 the first synagogue, Sha’ar HaShamayim, was built, followed by Etz Hayim in 1759, Nefusot Yehudah in 1800 and the Abudarham Synagogue in 1820. They can all be visited by appointment and the Nefusot Yehuda is particularly ornate.
Known as the Flemish Synagogue, because of its façade, it was founded by Dutch merchants. The interior was destroyed by fire in 1913 and an Italian architect added marble, patterned ceilings and walls with Moroccan tiles after 1945.
The oldest Jewish cemetery, the Jews’ Gate cemetery in the Upper Rock, has graves dating from 1746 before it was officially closed in 1848.
The gravestones are mainly horizontal, in the Sephardi style, and many noted rabbis are buried here. A raised pathway leads over the graves, the result of extensive clean-up and restoration, and it was rededicated in 2015.
The Second World War saw the entire population evacuated, first to Casablanca then back to Gibraltar when the Vichy government came to power. Finally, they were sent to Madeira, Jamaica, Tangiers and London.
Many in the Jewish community never returned but those who did have played an active role in politics. In 1964, Joshua Hassan became Gibraltar’s first Chief Minister, while his nephew Solomon Levy was mayor from 2008-2009.
Gibraltar’s own history stretches back thousands of years, as the last refuge for the Neanderthals around 32,000 years ago, who lived in Gorham’s Cave complex, naturally occurring caverns at sea level.
The first complete Neanderthal skull was found here in 1848 before another of a child in 1926. Archaeologists have found evidence of occupation spanning 120,000 years and the cave complex now has Unesco World Heritage status. Although excavations are ongoing, it’s still possible to visit on a guided tour if you reserve a place in advance.
The other more famous Gibraltar primates are the Barbary macaques, living wild on the rough limestone cliffs in the Upper Rock. Native to North Africa, they were probably brought here in the early days of the British garrison. Legend has it that should they ever disappear, the British will have to leave Gibraltar.
Numbers diminished sharply during the Second World War before Winston Churchill intervened and additional animals were imported from Morocco. These days the entire top of the rock is a nature reserve, home to around 250 animals, and easily accessible by cable car.
The monkeys — not apes as many think — flock around tourists, looking for food, and generally seem a bit of a nuisance. But a different perspective is provided by a local primatologist from the agency Monkey Talk.
I join a small group at sunset and get to see them in their natural habitat. Monkey etiquette says that if we stand our ground, the animals will ignore us. Surprisingly it seems to work.
Gibraltar has always been a fortress and its extensive stone defences are everywhere; what you can’t see are those hidden inside the rock. Natural fissures, like St Michael’s Cave, crammed with stalactites and stalagmites, have always been used for military purposes.
These days it has been turned into a marvellous 600-seat concert hall. Below is another cave, only discovered in 1942, and containing a lake of crystal clear water, nearly 40m long.
But it’s the man-made tunnels which impress. The Great Siege Tunnels date from 1782, and were dug so large cannon could be moved into position, high on the precipitous north face.
During the Second World War, the garrison needed protection from air attack, so mining began afresh. Specialised units from the Royal Engineers and the Canadian army worked night and day to create an underground city.
It was designed to house the entire 16,000 garrison, and to store enough food to last for 16 months. Inside there was an underground telephone exchange, a generating station, a water distillation plant, hospital, bakery, ammunition magazines and a vehicle maintenance workshop. The total length of the tunnel network inside the Rock is approximately 32 miles.
In the end, the expected attack from Hitler didn’t materialise, partly because of Franco’s refusal to allow German troops on Spanish soil, and the tunnels were never needed. Today, short tours take you inside, giving you a glimpse of the scale of the project.
Mock-ups of a field hospital and kitchen, as well as atmospheric black and white photographs, conjure up the wartime spirit — though many are off-limits, still used by the MoD for military exercises.
Of course, what most tourists come to Gibraltar for is the sun, sand and sea and there’s usually plenty of that, although the Levanter phenomenon — when clouds suddenly arrive and hog the top of the rock — can put paid to any chance of a swift tan.
Fortunately, Camp Bay and Little Bay, on the Atlantic side, are usually clear. Both are stony but have swimming pools and a popular bar/restaurant.
The largest stretch of sand is Eastern Beach, on the Mediterranean, right next to the airport runway. As you swim, you can see flights landing and departing with the Rock’s majestic north face towering above.
South of here is Catalan Bay, known in Spanish as La Caleta, once a fishing village with colourful houses lining the horseshoe sweep of the shore. Beyond, Sandy Bay has been enlarged with 50,000 tons of sand imported from the Western Sahara.
Africa is very close, just across the narrow Straits of Gibraltar, ten miles away. At Europa Point, the Rock makes up one of the Pillars of Hercules, marking the end of the inhabitated world according to legend; the other is believed to be the Jebel Musa mountain, in Morocco.
While tradition says they once bore a warning that nothing lay beyond, these days sailors are guided safely by the 49m-high lighthouse which has stood here since 1841: the original single lamp has long since been replaced and today’s light has a range of around 37km.
Next to it is the Ibrahim-al-Ibrahim Mosque, the southernmost mosque in continental Europe and a symbol of Gibraltar’s long tradition of religious tolerance. Long may it continue.
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