I booked this tour through Carnival for $129. I had a good amount of onboard credit and I used some of it for this tour. The WWII Tunnel tour was sold out so I figured I needed to jump on this one. It includes the cable car and Europa point which are both on my list as well.

The ticket was delivered to my cabin on the second day of the cruise.

The tour meet time was 7:45 for the 8:30 tour. We left the theater around 8am. On the way in we got stickers indicating our tour number.

Cruise Director MarQ is here on our way out.

This is an early port day. Back on board is 3pm.

They took us directly to our bus…or motor coach as they call it here.

The number on the bus matches the sticker they gave us.

20 people are on this tour. Some of them were on the WWII tunnel tour. It was canceled because those tunnels are currently closed.

Our tour guide is Carolyn. Our driver is Morris.

Gibraltar is not an island. It’s actually linked to Spain

This is the Family Evacuation monument. During WWII women and children left then came back later.

Gibraltar has been a very popular place due to its location. It was conquered by the Moors (Moops if you’re a Seinfeld fan). Then Great Britain had it. The French and Spanish tried to take it while Great Britain was busy with the American Revolution. Then Germany wanted it in WWII. Then I believe Spain tried to take it one more time.

The original Gibraltar was on the rock. This is all reclaimed land. Our tour guide said as a kid she swam where we’re driving.

They refer to this clock as “Baby Ben.”

Rosia Bay is a popular concrete beach. It was a military recreation area during WWII.

This is Gibraltar falls. Excess water is going back to the sea

This is the tunnel to Europa Point.

Europa point

From here we can see Africa. This is the highest peak of the atlas mountain range which is 24km away from here.

This mosque was built by the king of Saudi Arabia.

This is a rugby pitch.

Africa

Spain

I’m glad we came here first. It’s really pretty in the morning.

After Europa point we took the motor coach to the cable car area to go to the top of the rock.

This is the Botanic Gardens. I’ve heard it’s a nice place to visit.

We are about to take the cable car up to the top of the rock for an amazing view.

It’s worth mentioning there are a lot of steps and inclines involved with this excursion.

We got these wristbands with a QR code that has to be scanned going into the tunnels.

Photo op. Supposedly this used to be a monkey. Now they’ve replaced it with King Charles.

We were given 15 minutes to explore up here.

And now for that amazing view.

As you can see, it’s all covered by fog. I don’t understand why we didn’t do the tunnels first then come up here. Fog is usually a morning thing.

We also expected to see monkeys here. This is a feeding platform where you can usually see them but not today.

Our guide felt bad about sticking us with no monkeys and no view so she’s taking us monkey hunting.

This is an area for monkeys to drink and bathe.

The fog has lifted a little bit but not much.

The important thing with the monkeys is to make sure they know you don’t have anything for them. If you’re holding a bag, hold it close to to your chest. If you hold it down they’ll think you have something for them.

A group back by the cars was feeding the monkeys random things out of their bags and ended up with monkeys crawling all over them. They enjoyed it until a lady got bit.

One of the monkeys had a first aid kit and was going through each of the band aids to make sure none of them were food.

We are going to take the cable car down halfway and meet the motor coach that will drive us closer to the tunnels.

Did I mention they cram all 21 of us in one of those?

The visibility is better halfway down.

The motor coach can’t go all the way so we have to walk it from here up a pretty steep incline for about 5 minutes.

They have bathrooms here.

The visibility isn’t great up here.

On to the tunnels.

We had to scan the QR code on our bracelets to get in both here and the monkey area we went to at the top.

General George Augustus Elliott wanted to build a high area in the rock to put cannons to fight off the French and Spanish who were trying to take Gibraltar while the British were focused on the American revolution.

We are entering the Windsor Galleries. This is the first area that was constructed. Construction began here May 25, 1782 and completed May 11, 1783.

We have a good view of the airport from here.

There are areas of the tunnels with audio tour information in six different languages.

This depicts an artificer in uniform. Artificers were basically engineers in the military. By 1782 there were 234 artificers. In 1856 they became part of the Corps of Royal Engineers.

This depicts artificers excavating a tunnel.

This is the Duke of Mahon. He was also Captain General of the Army of Spain. He tried to re-capture Gibraltar from the British but was unsuccessful.

This thing screams out “Hark who goes there?” when you walk by.

This room was one of two powder magazines. Many measures were taken to make sure the gun powder used in the cannons would be safe from water or accidental explosions.

This is what is referred to as “The Window.” From here you can see “The Notch” which was the original plan for the cannon placement. The notch was deemed too dangerous so they decided on a different location for the cannons.

This is St. George’s Hall where they ended up putting the cannons.

I don’t want to know.

Things have cleared up. We can see the runway here. It’s a short runway. The planes always land against the wind. I don’t think I ever want to fly to a place where we have to count on wind to stop the plane.

To make things more interesting. There’s a road that goes through the runway. And there’s a stoplight whenever the planes are taking off or landing.

The white covered area is the border with Spain.

Walking back to our motor coach.

A lady had a problem with a monkey following her around up on that platform we were just on. She was holding her bag down which they told us and the sign says not to do.

Our guide said the World War II tunnels have been closed for about three weeks but she isn’t sure why.

They have enough facilities inside the tunnels to house 17,000 people for a year and a half.

A Moorish (Moopish) castle.

These are the roads they have on the rock. This is old Gibraltar before they reclaimed the land below.

These used to be police barracks. Now they’re apartments.

This is the entrance to Casemates Square. We had the option of ending our tour here or riding back to the port. I ended my tour here where I ate lunch and walked back to the port. It was an easy 15 minute walk.

I enjoyed the tour. I wish we had the good view from the top but at least we got it from halfway up. I got to see Europa Point, the Great Siege Tunnels, and monkeys. If I come back I would be interested in a tour that includes that castle we passed on the way down. Otherwise I may look into doing it on my own.