5. Gibraltar.
Arrival. The ocean-going steamers land and embark their passengers in their own steam-tenders at any time before sunset at the Commercial Pier (fare for each pers. 1s. either way). The tariff for small boats is 1s. 6d. for a row in the harbour, or to or from the steamboats, for 1–2 pers., and 1s. for each addit. person; luggage up to 56 lbs. free; excess, 6d. per 56 lbs.; or a bargain may be made (l–2s. for passenger, incl. luggage). In bad weather the tariff is raised, in accordance with the signals (red, blue, bluish-white), to one-third more, or double, or triple fare. The porters are notorious for their extortionate demands. The charge for conveying luggage to the hotel should be fixed beforehand.—The Custom House Examination at the harbour-gate is confined to tobacco, spirits, and weapons. Foreigners require a permit from the Police Office (Pl. 2) to spend the day on shore, and if they intend to spend the night the permit must be renewed by their landlord. Between 5.30 and 8.15, according to the season, a cannon-shot (gun-fire) announces the closing of the Land Port (p. [55]). The other gates remain open till 11.
Hotels (the inclusive charge for the day should be ascertained). Hôt. Bristol (Pl. a), Cathedral Square, quiet and pleasant; Grand Hotel (Pl. b) and Hôt. Cecil (Pl. c), both in Waterport St.; these three have high charges, from 10–12s. a day and upwards; Hôt. Paris (Pl. f), opposite the post-office, new, pens. 8–15 fr.—Plainer: Hôt. Continental (Pl. d), Turnbull’s Lane; Hôt. Victoria, Church St., café-restaur.; Nuevo Hot. Español (Pl. e), Irish Town, pens. 8s., tolerable.—The drinking-water (rain-water from cisterns) is not good.—Cafés. Universal, Church St.; also at the Assembly Rooms (p. [53]).
Cabs (stands at Waterport Gate, Commercial Sq., and Cathedral Sq.). Drive for 1–2 pers. in the lower town, between Waterport Gate and Alameda, 6d.; in the upper quarters (Governor’s St.) 9d.; to Catalan Bay 1s. 3d.; to the lighthouse 1s. 4d.; to Governor’s Cottage 1s. 9d.—Per hour, for 1–2 pers., 1s. 6d.; for each addit. ½ hr. 6d.; 3d. extra for each addit. pers., or 5d. extra for the longer drives (lighthouse, Governor’s Cottage, etc.).—Each trunk 2d.—The tariff is in force only from daybreak till midnight. A bargain should be made beforehand.
Post Office (Pl. 1), Waterport St.; week-days 7 a.m.–8 p.m. (on Sun. 8–10 a.m.). The overland English mail closes at 6.45 a.m.—Telegraph Office, same place; 6 a.m. till midnight. Tariff to England 3d. or (viâ Malta) 6d. per word; to the United States 1s. 4d.–1s. 11d. per word.
Banks. Anglo-Egyptian, Market St., opposite Police Station; Larios Hermanos, Irish Town; Thos. Cook & Son (tourist-agents), Waterport St.—Numerous money-changers.
United States Consul, R. L. Sprague; vice-consul, A. D. Hayden.—Lloyd’s Agents, Smith, Imossi, & Co., Irish Town.
Theatre. Assembly Rooms (Pl. 8), in the Alameda, with open-air café.
Steamboat Lines (comp. ‘Gibraltar Chronicle’). Peninsular & Oriental (Smith, Imossi, & Co., Irish Town), weekly between London, Marseilles, and Port Said (for Australia and China; comp. RR. 17, 67); Orient Royal (Smith, Imossi, & Co.), fortnightly between London, Marseilles, and Port Said (for Australia; comp. RR. 17, 67); Cunard (M. H. Bland & Co., Cloister Bdg.), between New York and Trieste (RR. 15a, 16); White Star (Th. Morsley & Co., Irish Town 11), 2 or 3 times monthly to Naples (and Genoa; RR. 16, 15a), or viâ Algiers to Genoa; North German Lloyd (J. Onetti & Sons, Engineer Lane), fortnightly to Algiers, Genoa, Naples, and Port Said (comp. RR. 1, 15b, 24, 67), also fortnightly between New York, Algiers, Naples, and Genoa (comp. RR. 16, 24); the Hamburg-American (J. Carrara & Sons, Waterport St.) has excursion-steamers only; German Levant (J. Rugeroni & Son, Commercial Sq.), occasionally to Algiers; Hall Line (W. J. S. Smith, Bomb House Lane), weekly between London, Lisbon, Cadiz, and Málaga (comp. RR. 1, 6b); Royal Mail Steam Packet (Bland & Co., see above), every other Wed. for Tangier, Mogador, Teneriffe, etc. (RR. 14, 3, 4); Transports Maritimes (Imossi & Son), 21st of each month for Madeira and S. America; Oldenburg-Portuguese (A. Mateos & Sons, Pitman’s Alley) twice monthly to Tangier and Mogador (R. 14); Navigation Mixte (A. Mateos & Sons), every other Wed. night to Tangier, Oran, and Marseilles (RR. 18, 19); Vapores Correos de Africa (J. Onetti & Sons; at Algeciras, A. Gil Pineda), from Algeciras to Tangier and Cadiz (see R. 6b).—Local steamers to Algeciras and Tangier, comp. R. 6.
One Day (or even less when time presses). Walk through the town to the Alameda (p. [55]); visit to Europa Point (p. [55]) and perhaps Catalan Bay also (p. [56]).—Foreigners are not admitted to the fortifications, photographing or sketching which is prohibited.
Gibraltar, a town of 23,450 inhab. (incl. the garrison of 5100 men), the key of the Mediterranean, and one of the most important coast-fortresses in the world, in British possession since 1704, and headquarters of the Atlantic Fleet, lies on the W. slope of a huge rock, which is connected with the Spanish mainland by a sandy isthmus only. The famous rock bounds the Bay of Algeciras or Gibraltar on the E. ‘It is the very image of an enormous lion, crouched between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, and set there to guard the passage for its British mistress’ (Thackeray).
The rock is composed of Jurassic limestone, overlying Silurian slate, and extending from N. to S.; it is 3 M. long and ¾ M. in breadth, with a saddle separating Mt. Rockgun (1356 ft.), the lower hill on the N., from the Signal Station, the Highest Point (1396 ft.), and the Sugar Loaf Hill (O’ Hara’s Tower, 1361 ft.) on the S. Its grey masses ascend gradually in terraces on the W. and S. sides, and rise almost perpendicularly on the E. and N. sides.
The Town of Gibraltar (‘North Town’) covers a third of the W. slope to the N., while the remaining two-thirds are occupied by the Alameda, numerous pretty villas, the barracks of the South Town, and the Lighthouse on Europa Point. The houses rise in terraces to a height of 260 ft.; the streets are narrow and dark, and are relieved by few squares. The natives are chiefly Spaniards and descendants of many different Mediterranean races. The numerous Moroccans, mostly dealers from Tangier, indicate the proximity of the African coast. The cleanness of the town and the absence of beggars produce a pleasant impression. The Coal Stores on the South Mole (along with those of Algiers and Malta) supply the vessels bound for the Suez Canal (about 1200 annually). There is little other trade except the import of cattle and provisions from Galicia and Morocco.
The ancient name of the rock was Kalpe, while the hills on the African side were called Abyla (now Sierra Bullones; p. [103]). Together they were known as the ‘Pillars of Hercules’, the entrance to the ocean. Under the protection of the divine Hercules-Melkarth, the Phœnicians ventured through the straits, even as far as Britain, whence they brought the earliest tidings from the North and also cargoes of tin, which they mixed with copper to produce bronze. Kalpe was also the name of the first Phœnician settlement on the bay of Gibraltar, while Carteia, on the inner part of the bay, was probably of ancient Iberian origin. Carteia was still an important harbour under the Carthaginians, and in 171 B. C. it became the first Roman colony in the whole peninsula. Nothing is recorded of the period which succeeded the invasion of the Vandals (p. [322]). At length in 711 the bay re-appears in history, when Mûsa, the governor appointed by the Caliph of Damascus, sent the Berber Târik ibn Ziyâd across from Ceuta to the bay of Algeciras on an expedition against Spain, in which he defeated the Visigoths at Veger de la Frontera, near Cape Trafalgar (p. [58]). Impressed by the commanding position of the rock of Gibraltar, Târik afterwards erected a fort upon it, which formed the nucleus of the Moorish castle (p. [55]). From him is derived the name of Jebel Târik, ‘mountain of Târik’, corrupted into Gibraltar. In 1309 Gibraltar was captured by Al. Pérez de Guzmán (el Bueno) for Ferdinand IV. of Castile; the Moors recaptured it in 1333, but in 1462 lost it again to the Spaniards. In consequence of the plundering of Gibraltar by Algerian pirates under Kheireddin (p. [221]), Charles V. ordered the fortifications to be reconstructed and new ramparts to be built from the S. side of the town to the crest of the hill. In 1610 the Spanish Admiral Mendoza caused the last Moriscoes of Andalusia to be sent back to Morocco from this very port, where their ancestors had so long held sway, and whence they had gone forth to conquer the whole peninsula. After having undergone ten sieges at various periods, the fortress was surprised and captured by the British fleet under Adm. George Rooke and Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1704, during the Spanish War of Succession, and was stoutly and successfully defended by them during a six months’ bombardment by the Spaniards and the French (1704–5). The thirteenth siege (1727) and the ‘great siege’ by the French and the Spaniards (1779–83) were also unsuccessful, the British commander then being Gen. Eliott, afterwards Lord Heathfield. By the Peace of Versailles, in 1783, Great Britain was confirmed in her possession of the historic rock.
The older Fortifications on the coast, from Land Port on the N. to Europa Point on the S., those on the S. slope of the rock above Europa Point, and those on the N. side (the famous underground galleries, p. [55]) have in late years been strengthened by the construction of a fort on the summit of the hill, armed with guns of the largest calibre.
From the Old Mole, dating from 1309, and lately prolonged by the North Mole, we pass through the Old Mole Gate (the outer gate of the harbour), and then, beyond the Market, through the inner Waterport Gate, which stands on the site of the old Moorish wharf. This brings us to the S. E. to Casemates Square.
Adjacent, on the S., is Waterport Street, with the chief buildings, forming, together with the parallel street to the W. called Irish Town, the chief business quarter.
Waterport Street is prolonged to the S. by Church Street. Beyond Commercial Square and the Exchange (Pl. 3) we come to the Catholic Cathedral (Pl. 4), on the left, originally a mosque, but restored by the ‘Catholic kings’ (p. [75]) after 1502; there now remains little worth seeing except the Moorish orange-court.—A little farther on, on the same side is the Supreme Court (Pl. 7), with its pretty garden. To the right, in Cathedral Square, stands the Anglican Cathedral (Pl. 6), built in the Moorish style.
The southmost part of this line of streets is Southport Street, where, on the right, rises the Convent, once a Franciscan establishment, now the Government House (governor, Sir Arch. Hunter), the garden of which contains a venerable dragon-tree (p. [30]). At the S. end of this street is Southport Gate, which is always open, dating from the time of Charles V., but restored in 1883. Outside the gate, on the left, is the small Trafalgar Cemetery, where the British who fell at the battle of Trafalgar (p. [58]) are buried.
The Alameda, beyond the gate, a fine promenade with rich subtropical vegetation, was laid out by Governor George Don in 1814. A military band plays near the Assembly Rooms (p. [53]) on Sun. and Wed. from 3–5, or in summer in the evening. To the W. we overlook the Naval Harbour, with its dockyard, quays, and long South Mole.
A little to the E. of the Southport Gate is Prince Edward’s Gate, a second exit to the S. from the town, whence the *Europa Main Road ascends gently along the W. slope of the rock, above the Alameda Gardens, between gardens and villas. Below it, on the right, farther on, are the Naval Hospital and the Buena Vista Barracks. Lastly, a little way short of a signal-station, we descend between the fissured rocks of the Europa Pass to (1½ M.) Europa Point, with its great Lighthouse, the much-eroded S. extremity of the peninsula. The road then turns to the N., soon affording a view of the Spanish Mediterranean coast, to the Governor’s Cottage and the Monkeys’ Cave hidden among the rocks.
The Moorish Castle, above the artillery barracks, begun by Târik in 713 and completed in 742, is entered through the Civil Prison (verbal permission required by foreigners). Access to the Subterranean Galleries of the fortress, lying below the castle and dating from 1782 (comp. p. [54]), is now limited to British subjects.
From the Market (p. [54]) we may walk to the N. E. to the Land Port (notice as to closing should be observed; comp. p. [52]), and past the Inundation, a space which may be flooded for defensive purposes (made in 1705), to the North Front, which forms part of the low neck of land below the N. slopes of the rock. From this point the Devil’s Tower Road leads to the S.E., past the Cemeteries, to the Devil’s Tower (10 min. from the Land Fort), probably an old Genoese watch-tower. The road then turns to the S. to Catalan Bay, below the E. flank of the rock, just allowing room for the little fishing-village of Caleta. The rocks contain several caves.
Beyond the Neutral Ground, 550 yds. in breadth, we come to the Spanish town of Linea de la Concepción (29,600 inhab.), 1¼ M. to the N. of Gibraltar, which owes its origin to the old Spanish lines of defence, long since demolished. The place is uninteresting.