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Looming like some great ship off almost the southernmost tip
of Spain, the tiny British colony of Gibraltar is such a compound
of curiosities that a visit can hardly fail to stir one's
interest. To the ancient Greeks and Romans, Gibraltar was
one of the two Pillars of Hércules, set up by the mythical
hero to mark the edge of the known world. (The other pillar
was the coastal mountain Jebel Musa in Morocco, 25km (16.5mi)
south.)
Today,
it's a little piece of the European continent populated mostly
by Gibraltarians (of mixed Genoese, Jewish, Spanish and British
ancestry), along with sizeable British and Moroccan minorities.
Signs are in English but the languages spoken are English,
Spanish and a curious mix of the two.
Population::
30,000
Country: Gibraltar
Time: GMT/UTC plus one hour
Telephone Area Code: from Spain: +9567; from other countries
+350
Orientation
Gibraltar
is the imposing glob of sand and limestone which rounds off
the Iberian Peninsula, where Spain reaches for Africa. It's
linked to Spain by a narrow isthmus at the southern end of Andalucía.
To the east are the Costa Del Sol and the Mediterranean; to
the west lie the Strait of Gibraltar and the Atlantic Ocean;
heading south will bring you to Morocco.
The
territory is 5km (3.1mi) long and 1km (0.62mi) wide; most
of it is one huge lump of limestone 426m (1397ft) high. Immediately
south of the Spanish border, the road crosses the airport
runway. The town and harbors of Gibraltar lie along the Rock's
less steep west side, facing the Bahía de Algeciras
(Bay of Gibraltar). To reach Gibraltar by land you must pass
through the Spanish border town of La Línea de la Concepción,
20km (12.4mi) east of Algeciras and about 4 hours from Seville.
Gibraltar
Flight from UK
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