When we finally made it through the border controls and were back on the bus, the guide mentioned that the driver was happy to see that the next traffic light was green. Here's what it looks like when it's red:
Talk about lax airport security!
When we finally arrived at the multistory Coach Terminal and Car Park, we transferred onto smaller tour buses with local drivers.
On our way to our first stop we climbed to Nun's Well, the highest point at the southern tip of the peninsula. From our vantage point we could see Spain (and Europe) to the north and Morocco (and Africa) to the south. In Gibraltar, we were actually further south than the north African capitals of Algiers and Tunis.
Given its strategic location, Gibraltar has a rich, long and impressive history.
An apocryphal story is told of the death of Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson off Cape Trafalgar, Spain in late 1805. His body was returned to Gibraltar for repatriation to England where he was to be buried. Since they had no refrigeration in those days and given that salting him like a cod would have been too demeaning, they decided to submerge his body in a barrel of rum. It is said that, when they opened the barrel in England, the body was there, and in bad shape, but there wasn't a drop of rum left!
Given its constrained area, much of the upper parts of the rock, once solely the domain of the military, has been given over to a conservation area. The high standard of living brings lots of cars --- in spite of the limited number of roads and, as a result, Gibraltar has the worst air quality of any British territory.