I have missed England ever since I left four years ago. I didn't expect to find that place that I missed so much when I went to Spain; sure I knew that Gibraltar was a British colony, but I didn't expect too much from it. I figured I'd go there, take a picture of the rock, buy some cheezy souvenir, find some poor excuse for a cider, and move on. Gibraltar is so much more than that. Yes, it's a tourist trap. Yes, the rock is really pretty. But it brought back those memories of an England that I love, and that's what made the trip to Gibraltar so memorable and wonderful for me. Also, my cider was really really good. So you're driving along (you can take a bus to Gibraltar from one of the other major towns in Spain, but Hannah and I opted to drive through Andalucia to absorb that beautiful Spanish landscape), destination Gibraltar. It's a good thing to park your car and walk across the borderline through customs, but we somehow missed the car park and ended up driving right through them. Don't be fooled by the quick line getting into Gibraltar; you see all those cars facing the other direction? Yeah. They're all waiting to get out. You'll be waiting to get out too. But fine. You pass through customs and cross the landing strip after looking in both directions for landing airplanes (Gibraltar has it's own airport, and apparantly, flights from London are super cheap), and it's like you're in England.

Well, technically, you are in England. It's got bobbies (seen above), pubs, real cider, fish and chips, British currency... It's a corner of England in Spain. And, yeah, I guess I should have written "Gibraltar, England" at the top of this page, but you know what? The graphic's already made. Let's not be technical, OK? Just enjoy the pictures.

If you're wise, you've already parked your car and walked through customs. If you're like Hannah and me, then you'll have to drive around and find a parking spot. It's not an easy thing to do. They are few and far between, especially on nice days. Then, once you've found a spot, you have to have British money for the meter. Unless you've got some on you, you'll have to change some money before you park. But that's really the only time that you'll be in a bind over currency; everywhere else accepts either Spanish or Brisith money. And that's one of the coolest things about Gibraltar. Gibraltar isn't quintessential England. It's not an island removed from the rest of Europe. It's a few feet of pavement away from Spain, a pond across from Morocco. The mix of cultures that makes up Spain hasn't neglected Gibraltar. And while you get the distinct impression that you have just entered mainland England, you also know that you're still in Spain. But then, that's the atmosphere of Spain itself; it breaths through everything and lets you know you're alive. So you're in Gibraltar, wandering around, under the shadow of the huge white rock. From below, it's a phenominal sight. The rock silhouetted by the sea, rising up out of buildings and people and red double decker buses. It looks silent, stoic. There's a feeling about the rock. Maybe I just have a thing for rocks... I don't know. It's not like the rocks at Avebury, England or anything. But I don't think I'm alone in that observation. John Lennon and Yoko Ono got married on the rock of Gibraltar (betcha didn't know that fun fact).

There's a trolley that takes you up to the top where you can play with the funky monkeys, take amazing pictures, breathe deep, take a peak at Morocco and tell yourself that one day you will get there, too, and look at Gibraltar from the other side. Or, you could bypass the visit up to the Rock, admire it from below, take a few hundred pictures of it, and head to the nearest pub, like Hannah and I did. If there's much deliberation in Gibraltar, it's over which pub to go to, and what to order once you've picked one. I'm a huge cider fan. I love going to Fado because they serve cider, and although it's not the same as real, British cider, I convince myself it is. I loved Gibraltar because of the cider. Sure, the rock was cool and all that. But the cider... So we stopped at one pub, had a pint, watched the bobbies walk around, listened to British accents and the Spanish language mix together seamlessley, and then stopped at another pub for dinner (and another pint). As we ate our cheeseburgers (Mad Cow Disease, Shmad Cow Disease...), we watched the man performing across the street from us, who is pictured on the left. It was definitely a photo opportunity.

But there wasn't any more perfect photo than the one below. I mean, how cute is that? A cat sleeping on a canon in the square at Gibraltar, after you've had your fill of cider and British beef. Sometimes life is just perfect.

I think almost all of Gibraltar was a photo opportunity. Maybe it was the long drive from Seville, where the occasional sign for Tio Pepe broke up the miles and miles of beautiful nothing. Maybe because it was so different from the other cities Hannah and I had seen in Spain. Maybe it brought back memories of my life in Oxford, England and I needed to capture everything on film. Maybe it was hearing my native tongue again after wrapping myself up in the Spanish language. Or maybe it was just because it is that pretty. The street in the picture on the left, for example, is quaint. Yes, it's also crooked, but it's so pretty that you somehow don't see that it's crooked. OK, so you do. That's what cider and British beef will get you. But the baskets full of flowers hanging from black lamp posts. The window boxes filled to the brim with flowers. The winding streets. The cobbled sidewalks. The Rock that rises above it all and manages to sneak its way into practically every picture.

And after you've had your fill of curious monkeys, cats on canons, pubs, ciders, street performers, winding streets, and the Rock, it's time to find your car and head back to Spain. If you have to sit in the customs at the border, you'll have time to take some final pictures of the Rock. While you wait, turn on the radio, find some great Spanish music, and say goodbye to England, until next time. Home is where I want to be!