September 15, 2018
Hello Bill and Annie,
We are departing Gibraltar today, Saturday. Too tired from all our hard work and sight-seeing to leave on Friday, our original chosen day of departure after 3 weeks of work and exploration.
There was much to accomplish here in Gibraltar, not having spent any time on Kandu’s general maintenance since the big overhaul in Pangkor Marina, Malaysia. We had various leaks to address, turns out that our electrical grounding had an issue and Eric spent 3 days assessing the problem and another 2 leading another wire through the nooks and crannies of the interior to replace the problematic one. Then the water maker membranes that had been ordered and delivered months ago needed to be installed. During regular maintenance of the engine and tightening the alternator belt, Eric discovered a bolt had severed off the water intake pump – that took another 3 days to deal with…and it’s still not done because here in Gibraltar, one bolt could be made out of four which meant he had to use the old bolts and order new ones for future replacement. The rule is if one bolt has broken, all the other bolts should be replaced too. And it goes on and on…finding moldy items that needed to be cleaned or tossed, deep cleaning, etc, etc.
Our last work day, we accomplished a lot on Thursday and then toured the Rock hiking up to the top starting at 14:00 – We tramped through the WWII tunnels and the Great Seige tunnels built in 1782/83. Fascinating history. The rock of Gibraltar has been taken over so many times…this area was the gateway of the Muslims into Europe from 711 to early 1300’s. Then they were politically kicked out of Spain under a final defeat headed by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492. Later up through 1609, Philip II of Spain and the Spanish Inquisition then persecuted any remaining Muslims and Jews, forcing them either to convert, depart…or they were killed.
The Brits started considering taking over the rock already in 1654…but they officially started to hold it in 1704 under seige by Spain. 1713 – marks the date when Spain officially ceded Gibraltar to Britain in perpetuity…but the two countries continued to fight over up to the siege starting in 1779. 1783 marked the end of the last and final “Great Siege.” Then fighting Napoleon during the battle of Trafalgar, Oct 1805, the area and the straights of Gibraltar were fought over again during which Admiral Lord Nelson was killed. However, his victory at Trafalgar removed the threat of another siege by the French and Spanish.
Darned interesting history. A couple days ago, we visited the Natural History museum…Here in Gibraltar was the first Neanderthal skull found 1848 recovered from the Forbes Quarry in one of two enormous and deep caves…but the skull was not recognized as a new humanoid ’species’ until after the Germans later discovered and officials named the species “Neanderthals” following their discovery in Neanderthal Valley, Germany.
During the World Wars, Gibraltar was used extensively as intermediary safe haven by the Allies as naval ships came and went. The people of Gibraltar have since voted two times, the first in 1967, to remain part of Britain as an overseas territory. 32,000 people live in this crowded area calling it home. Numerous large apartment buildings have been constructed in the last 30 years on landfill expanding past the original city walls.
We’ve been here 3 weeks and have enjoyed our Gibraltarian visit very much. Feels nice to be in an English speaking country that is organized much like our own, albeit the locals generally speak both English and Spanish. The Brits really colonized well and established great “infrastructure.” Much different than the French, Spanish, and Dutch colonies. Dutch colonizers (Indonesia) basically built what they needed to build only, but the Brits’ organizational structures were sound, hence their successful colonies: US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada.
September 10 marks their National Day where everyone wears red and white. We stayed specifically to attend their festivities including an air show, rock bands, speeches, dancing, and fireworks.
Off to Mohammedia, Morocco – close to Casa Blanca for just a couple days, and then more south to Agadir for a few days to allow Bryce to enjoy some Atlantic surf. It’s been since Bali, Indonesia that Bryce has stored his boards!
Love Leslie
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