to Gibraltar by buses and taxis

to Gibraltar by buses and taxis

[ Nov.2016 ] We moved from Jerez de la Frontera in the south Spain to Gibraltar.

We asked how to get there in the tourist information office in Jerez and the officer there said “It’s not easy”.

I could almost hear him saying “Do you really want to go there? Why?” in his voice.

Anyway, we found out that we had to take two buses to get there.

Looking at the map, it looked very close, so we asked about the taxi, but apparently it would cost as much as 160 euros, so we went to the bus station in Jerez.

Next to the bus station was the train station.

In Spain, most of the train stations are gorgeous for some reason and this one was nice, too.

The bus station was not special, though.

We took a bus up to Algeciras and changed the bus to La Linea.

Both Algeciras and La Linea seemed industrial towns and did not look attractive at all.

We did not have any idea how to get to the border from the bus stop in La Linea, so we took a taxi.

Then we cross the border on foot, then took another taxi to the hotel.

The taxi in La Linia was not allowed to cross the border, according to the driver.

The second taxi driver after crossing the border was clearly British.

Gibraltar is a strange town.

It is well known fact that this place is under the UK.

When we walked around the town, we could see some Spanish looking designs in architectures, but the post boxes, phone boxes and number plates of cars were British.

And most of the shops in the main street were British chain stores which were familiar to us.

Apparently this place has been under control of the UK since 1713 when the Utrecht Treaty was signed.

But for Spanish, it is a part of their land and they want to get it back.

A Spanish friend of my friend often said “Gibraltar is Spain”.

But over 32,000 residents here in the area of 6.8 square km voted to stay British some years ago.

They voted overwhelmingly for remaining in the European Union in the referendum in June 2016, though.