Gilbralter...

The Rock of Gibralter towers over the coast of Spain that touches it on each side. We drove there from our rental apartment in Calahonda, Spain in a steady rain. The low hanging clouds allowed little site seeing, but it did not stop the towering rock from darking the sky a bit more.

Gibralter is a British Territory and once we got past the border control, we felt like we had returned to England. Everything was in English and we had quite a selection of pubs and other English department stores to choose from.

Because Gibralter is very small, everything is smashed into a very small area. As you leave the border control, you drive right over a giant runway. With all the tight security restrictions in the States, I was quite surprised to find myself driving on a runway!!

We squeezed our rental car around tight corners, navigating slowly up the Rock of Gibralter. Many corners were so tight, there was several shades of paint from the side of cars decorating the buildings. The roads wasted little time taking us up and we were soon looking down on the Strait of Gibralter. It was easy to understand why this was such a strategic military location during World War II. At its narrowist point, there is only 8 miles that separates Africa from Europe. As we looked down at the water, you could easily see Africa off in the distance.

We drove up as far as the roads would allow and then we got out and started walking. As we we turned the first bend in the road, we met our first monkey sitting on a wall at the road's edge. It just sat there looking at us giving us no indication whether or not it cared about our existance. It was strange meeting up with a monkey outside of the zoo. It just did not seem natural, but we found many more monkeys during our walk that day. There were all shapes and sizes. Some looked like they were going to grab us around the legs if we got too close, others looked like they wanted to play. We were advised by a lot of signs that the monkeys did bite, so we tried to keep our distance.

We did make it to the top, but the clouds hid any views from us.

Jamón ibérico...

We always make sure to get a little Iberian Ham when we are in Spain. We learned about it on our first trip last year. It has a very distinctive flavor and can be very expensive. We tried a little portion this time that cost 60 euruos a kilo. The thing that amazes me is that there is so much of it to buy. Everywhere we go, you can find a corner of a store filled like our picture here. There seems to be an endless supply of it in Spain, yet they cans still sell it for high prices. I suppose the cost is supported by what needs to be done to produce it. I won't even attempt to explain Iberian ham, but I will supply you with the Wikipedia definition. This is much better than my limited knowledge of it and as I researched it I learned a little more about it too.

According to Wikipeida.com...

Jamón ibérico is a type of jamón, a cured ham produced only in Spain. It is at least 75% Black Iberian Pig, also called the cerdo negro or black pig, the only breed of pig that naturally seeks and eats mainly acorns: according to Spain's Denominación de Origen rules on food products jamón ibérico may be made from cross-bred pigs as long as they are at least 75% ibérico.
The Black Iberian Pig lives primarily in the south and southwest parts of Spain, including the provinces of Salamanca, Ciudad Real, Cáceres, Badajoz, Seville, Córdoba and Huelva. Immediately after weaning the piglets are fattened on barley and maize for several weeks. The pigs are then allowed to roam in pasture and oak groves to feed naturally on grass, herbs, acorns, and roots, until the slaughtering time approaches. At that point the diet may be strictly limited to acorns for the best quality jamón ibérico, or may be a mix of acorns and commercial feed for lesser qualities.

The hams are labeled according to the pigs' diet, with an acorn diet being most desirable:

The finest jamón ibérico is called jamón ibérico de bellota (acorn). This ham is from free-range pigs that roam oak forests (called la dehesa) along the southern border between Spain and Portugal, and eat only acorns during this last period. It is also known as Jamón Iberico de Montanera.[citation needed] The exercise and the diet has a significant impact on the flavor of the meat; the ham is cured for 36 months

The next grade of jamón ibérico is called jamón ibérico de recebo. This ham is from pigs that are pastured and fed a combination of acorns and grain.

The third type of jamón ibérico is called jamón ibérico de pienso, or simply, jamón ibérico. This ham is from pigs that are fed only grain. The ham is cured for 24 months.

Trip to Ronda, Spain...

Our first outing in the south of Spain was a drive to Ronda. We turned north from the beaches of Marbella and started our ascent to one of the most breathtaking towns I have ever seen. The road to Ronda was a very winding two lane road plagued by slow moving dump trucks and fast moving cars passing the trucks on the inside of every turn up the mountain. The road had random stretches of guardrails and short stonewalls, but nearly every one had a missing section or was seriously damaged. Neither this nor the steady rain seemed to put any concern into the minds of the passing drivers. The fact that we were traveling up a steeply graded road did not seem to slow anyone but us. Perhaps it was chorus of whimpers from his three passengers that made Dale slow to a crawling speed. I would have taken pity on the fact that Dale had to crawl along the mountain roads, obviously wanting to go faster, if I had not been so nervous myself!

We arrived to a village perched on the side of a cliff. The view was amazing. From the edge of the village you look down on crumbling walls, dirt roads, olive groves and abandoned stone ruins that made you imagine times past. We wandered the streets in the steady rain taking stock of the beautiful doors that decorated every building and home. There were no doors put on buildings simply for use. They all were strong, heavy beautifully made doors beautifully carved and nearly all carefully tended. The doors are one of my favorite things to look at in Spain.

Ronda is well known for the impressive bull ring built at the edge of town. Within the complex is a small museum and horse training center. We saw people working with horses, the bull ring and all the gates and ropes used on the day of a bullfight. To see a bullfight must be a statement to society as well because the cheapest tickets to be had were 50 euros per person. We had to settle for sitting in an empty bullring, but even that was fun.

Early flight to Spain...

When you are sitting in front of a computer making travel reservations, anything seems possible. As I made our flight reservations for our trip to Spain, I looked at the cost grid and decided that I was willing to get up really early in order to save some pounds in airfare. However, as I struggled out of bed at 3:30 am this morning, I declared that there actually is great value in the time you spend sleeping and have thus declared that I will never again try to catch a 6:25 am flight.

The good side to this story is that we arrived in Spain at 10:30 am despite it being one hour later in time zones and we had an entire day to unpack, explore and enjoy a nice dinner. The bed was quite comfortable when I finally crawled in at the end of today.