We stayed overnight in an aire at Puerto Alcaidesa Marina at La Línea de la Concepción. This blog was to be entitled “Gibraltar” but I chose the other title as it sounded more raunchy!
We took a ticket when we entered the parking area and paid when we left the next day, €15. There was a maximum stay of 72 hours. There were more than 80 camper vans parked in a large paved area looking out to the Straits of Gibraltar – adjacent to ‘44 Cup’ racing yachts taking part in an international sailing event – two of the competing teams were British.
In the late afternoon we walked into Gibraltar, our passports were stamped at the border. We then hopped on a bus to take us to the town centre (cost for us both was £3.60 with an elderly concession). The route into the city passed many high rise buildings as well as a number of construction sites.
It was a warm evening and we were able to sit and eat outside. We walked into Irish Town where the cobbled streets were narrow and the buildings were traditional. We chose a “fusion” restaurant where we had one of the most delicious curries we had had in a long time. The bars and restaurants were vibrant with folk enjoying the warm sunny atmosphere. Gibraltar was not a particularly attractive place but it was very interesting.
As we walked around we could hear English voices amongst the passers-by. Judging by what people were wearing most were residents rather than tourists – families with young children, office and shop workers and even the occasional person in a formal business suit. Many extra workers came in from Spain; they had identity cards giving them speedy access via an electronic barrier at the frontier. It was very easy for pedestrians to cross the border but there was a long queue of vehicles in either direction.
Returning to the truck later that evening, Spanish immigration again stamped our passports – EU citizens were simply waved through. We met a British couple who had driven their camper van into to Gibraltar to fill up with VAT free fuel. He said it really wasn’t a great saving, not worth the effort.
A nice thing happened on our return bus journey. It was probably obvious we were not accustomed to bus travel (no buses where we lived) but I noticed other passengers were presenting their return tickets as they boarded the bus so I presented the driver with the ticket we had bought on our outward journey. The driver looked at my ticket and laughed as he politely ushered us into the bus. When I later looked closely at the ticket it was clearly marked “Single”. Such a friendly gesture from the driver.
