The other day I arrived on the Red Jet hydrofoil from Cowes in Southampton, just as P&O’s Oriana was leaving.

While admiring the elegant lines of the first cruise ship built specifically for the British cruise market, I remembered the first time I boarded her.

It was over a decade ago during a press trip to Gibraltar. I had met some of the Rock’s famous Barbary apes, Europe’s sole free roaming primates, aside from humans – such as John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and Sean Connery and his present wife, Micheline, who were married in Gibraltar.

I then took a safari boat trip to see some of the species of dolphins that grace the Rock’s Bay. The following morning, we were invited for breakfast on the Oriana, a pleasant affair.

That afternoon, I was standing on a hill overlooking the Bay of Gibraltar, which was sheltering P&O’s cruise ship. Next to me was the Rock’s press officer and I happened to mention that an acquaintance of mine, at that time The Sun’s travel editor, told me if she really liked a destination she tried to avoid writing about it, to discourage some of her readers who might otherwise ruin the place.

A moment later, this considerate editor strolled up the hill having spent a week cruising round the Med on the Oriana. She’d breakfasted in her cabin on the ship so we’d missed each other.

I asked if she was planning to write about her day in Gibraltar.

“I’m thinking about it,” she said, evasively.

So why am I now writing about Gibraltar? Well, for one thing I have never written for The Sun, for which no doubt, they are extremely grateful. And for another, I think the Rock is good value and well worth a visit, a sentiment recently shared by an old friend in Cowes.

To the ancient Greeks the Rock marked the limit of what to them was the known world. If you sailed past the Rock, they said, you would fall off the edge into a bottomless waterfall’s maelstrom.

Or like me, end up in Penge.

Today the world goes on beyond the Rock of Gibraltar, which is also the northern Pillar of Hercules, and the Rock has long been a vital military and naval base. It’s also honeycombed with history, including natural caves and about 50 km of man-made tunnels.

At first glance, Gibraltar looks smaller than a typical British seaside resort and easy to dismiss. But while it’s true you can walk from one end of the Rock to the other in a short space of time, there’s a lot of detail that will catch your eye. This includes VAT-free shops in the town’s Main Street, lanes and alleys, fine restaurants and enough bars, flora, fauna and other attractions to make you want to return for a longer visit.

I learned to play Blackjack in one of Gibraltar’s hotel casinos. Fortunately I’d already eaten for although I had money for gambling I had nothing left for food.

A fellow journalist then told me of a system he swore worked for him, “One day I win and one day I lose.”

That’s when I decided to play every other day – the next time visit Gibraltar, I’ll stay for at least two.

James Leavey

Related posts:

• Santa Barbara: Between A Rock And A Hard Place Some say there are signs that the world’s global...
• Deck Hands Editor & Chief Sean Hardaker – Starting life as a...
• Bruce Beckett Bruce describes himself as, “your typical poet, musician, philosopher,...

Posted in Destinations