Chocolate Moose has taken refuge in Gibraltar

We've found Chocolate Moose again! He had taken refuge in Gibraltar, on the run from the Spanish authorities who were upset by his comments about the iconic Guggenheim Museum.

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory at the southern tip of Spain at the entrance to the Mediterranean sea and so is of great strategic importance. It has an area of 6.8sq km and is home to 30,000 Gibraltarians. It's sovereignty is a major point of contention in Anglo-Spanish relations and in fact there has been an escalation recently over fishing rights. This has resulted in long delays at the border crossing (sometimes up to 3-4 hours). Luckily we avoided this as we parked the car in Spain and went over the border on foot.

Gibraltar from Spain

Cable-car from the top

Panorama from top of rock looking north to spain

Barbary Macaques

Straits of Gibraltar, Africa in the background

Mediterranean Steps

CM is safe and well!

At the top... monkey on the right (!!)

CM took us on a fantastic tour! We took the cable-car to the top of the rock (426m). The views were amazing, over Gibraltar, the harbour, southern coast of Spain and over the straits of Gibraltar to Africa. The Rock is also home to about 230 Barbary macaques, the only wild monkeys found in Europe. CM had been hanging out with these guys so took us to meet them, including some mums with their babies. We then walked down the rock via the Mediterranean steps. These are steps cut into the limestone rock face and were originally created as a means of communication between two major gun batteries (top and bottom). The steps were very steep, narrow and uneven but the views were breathtaking.

Ice-cream cured aching feet at the bottom!!