25 Days on the Disney Magic to Europe - Page 6 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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We awaken in Gibraltar harbor and SWMBO immediately goes to the window to see The Rock. Finding the view inadequate, she steps out onto the veranda and looks fore and aft. Still nothing of note.
"Where's the stupid Rock?" she demands.
"Um, maybe it's starboard?" I venture.
"Well if it's not, it's a big nothing!"
It was starboard, and it was much better than nothing.
After a quick breakfast, we joined our "Rock" tour, which began with the warning not to feed the Barbary Apes, then off to the buses.
Our tour guide, Wilford, was a native of Gibraltar, fluent in three languages, and very well informed indeed. Perhaps the best tour guide we've had on any of our cruises. He began by warning us about the apes, and how feeding them carried a $1000 fine.
Off thru the city to the cableway, where the lower station was covered with signs warning that the apes bite, and not to feed them. It's a Von Roll skyway, the same company that built the skyways at Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom, so I was confident getting aboard ... until they put the entire bus load on with me! SWMBO had a nice view of someone's elbow, but I was lucky and got crushed up against a window.
My side of the car had a great view of the city of Gibraltar, which is today divided about in half by the city wall -- formerly the sea wall. The rest of the land has been reclaimed by dredging the harbor. (Excuse me, "harbour".) This was more difficult than usual because of all the bombs dropped "at" Gibraltar during WW II. The antiaircraft fire from the Rock was so effective that the majority of the bombs landed in the water rather than the land. The dredging was a joint project between a Dutch dredging firm and the bomb squad, who detonated the unexploded ordinance each day at noon, rather like Admiral Boom's cannon.
The upper cable station was perched rather precariously on the edge of the Rock, it having a very sharp profile that required even this modest building to overhang on both sides. It offered a panoramic view of the Straight, the Mediterranean, and Spain, with somewhat vertiginous views of the coast of Gibraltar proper. It also offered many signs advising against carrying food outside the snack bar due to the aggressive apes.
There were three amusing sights from the top: Third was the Gibraltar airport, whose runway ran from one coast to the other, then stuck out far into the bay. Being as the country is thus bisected, the main road crosses the middle of the runway, and traffic has to be stopped whenever a plane lands or takes off.
The second most amusing sight was the Barbary Apes. Brought over from North Africa, probably by British troops in the 18th century. As fat and unconcerned about human presence as WDW's rabbits, they walk about as if they own the place. Protected and fed by the government, they are the national mascots.
The *most* amusing sight (as you probably expected) was the tourists who walked out of the snack bar with food. One teen had an ape walk over to her, up her side, and politely took the ice cream out of her hand for her. An adult was feeding one from a small bag of peanuts. When he was done (but the ape wasn't), he rolled up the bag and stuffed it into his pocket, only to have the ape take it right back out for him seconds later.
A short walk (and many more apes) away was St. Michael's cave -- large enough it contains a theater -- and a short bus ride farther we came to the Great Siege Tunnel, dug through the Rock to provide cannon positions to protect against land attacks over the isthmus. More interesting than it might sound.
We left the bus as it passed thru downtown, and spent half the afternoon walking the length of Main Street, having a nice lunch and a couple of beers, and watching the passing humanity. We didn't buy anything, partly because our suitcases are already full and partly because none of the shops would honor my cast discount. (Yeah, I'm cheap. What's your point?)
This evening's show was the premier of "Mickey's Dreams". Sort of "Cirque du Solier does Fantasyland". It had a surprisingly large cast, including some outstanding acrobats. Unlike Cirque, the music was recognizable (apparently there was no budget for orginal music). Some of it jarred, such as "Chim Chim Chiree" sung as a slow waltz over leaping gymnastics. Other themes I recognized from films, parades, and park music. Odd, short, a few characters, but not without some potential.
SWMBO's birthday was celebrated at Palo's in their usual fine style. I had arranged a special dessert with PJ, which didn't get communicated to our server, but once repaired all was well (and I was allowed to live another year). Found a wonderful new Italian wine too, thanks to sommelier Andrea.
One more day at sea, then it's Barcelona, the halfway point on our trip.
One last day at sea for this cruise. One last morning to sleep in. One last breakfast with Christine -- butterflied shrimp with tomato basil pesto. One last lunch for breakfast. One last after-breakfast nap.
One last presentation from Dean Papavassiliou, this one on Barcelona. He had way too much to say about this town, which sounds like great fun, but he had to cycle through his powerpoint way too fast so he could finish on time. Pity, as touring this town with a "native guide" would be a lot more comforting on our first visit. We'll see how we do tomorrow starting with two tours.
But we also had some firsts today, such as our first look at the "plussed" version of Disney Dreams. Mostly new special effects and a few new characters (including a semi-bipedal Pumbaa). Enough change to make it worth seeing again, but not so much as to damage the show's good reputation.
We also had the Magic's first look at Barcelona. We moored just off the harbor, and one could almost see the other cruise ships turning a bit green with envy at our excessively cool ship's horn(s). The current wasn't cooperating, but our captain managed to drop anchor and hold us parallel to the shore with the side thrusters. Made it a bit noisy in the stern, but worth it.
The big deck party started with a small, one-minute fireworks show at 9:40 from the nearest dock. Just enough to let the camera crews be sure they were set up properly and perhaps get a chance at the 10 o'clock news. The party then began in earnest and continued until the main show at about 10:20.
What a show! A comet (shell) from the Magic signaled the start with music from the old MK show, Fantasy in the Sky, but then switched around and used fireworks tracks from several different shows. It lasted about 10 minutes and used substantially more shells than the usual MK show... and Illuminations put together! Between the ship's horn(s), the loud music from the party, Mickey's voice introducing the fireworks, and the pyro show, I think Barcelona will remember our visit for quite a while, and we haven't even arrived yet!
We're mooring offshore tonight, as it's too late to get off so why pay for the space? We'll actually dock about 5am tomorrow for a full day in Barcelona on Friday and our reboarding and departure on Saturday night.
Oh, and for those of you with Deppophilia, we got to see "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" tonight at one minute after midnight. That's 6:01pm Eastern Time, so we got to see the world premier! Well, we could have, but SWMBO knew she wouldn't be able to stay up until 3am for the film *and* get up at 8am for our tours and be awake for both (or maybe either). No matter, the film will run continuously tomorrow, so there will be lots of opportunities to "get Depped"!
More great updates Bruce Sounds like an interesting time with the apes in Gibralter And how cool you could have already seen Pirates Glad SWMBO birthday at Palo went well
Bruce - Your arrival in Barcelona sounds amazing! I hope you enjoy your day there. Do you have to pack everything or can you just leave it on the boat?
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tapas her in the states. If I ever get to Spain I have to try the real thing! 
tomorrow! I'm sure you'll do fine.
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Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
The Barbary Apes sound so 
- the tourists not so much. 
Sounds like an interesting time with the apes in Gibralter 
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