Saturday 7th
Thursdays Child
Robin & Joanna Minchin
Sat 7 Feb 2015 20:58
We began with a visit around the 800 year old Moorish Castle which gave a fascinating insight into life years ago. We climbed up inside the tower and could read all about their life whilst surrounded by the enemy outside. There were many pockmarks on the outside as a result of being hit over the many centuries by cannons and gunfire.
Then dodging the rain, we headed on up to the "Great Siege Tunnels", an awe-inspiring peep into life in the 1770's where we walked right into the heart of the Rock through a tunnel that had been carved by hand and by gun powder. The explanatory notes and figures along the way were very helpful in painting a picture of life back then.
Buildings outside housing a small exhibition gave an insight into life during the many sieges in early 1700's, and graffiti from those times was still visible written by bored soldiers waiting for action.
St Michael's Caves were the last thing on our ticket, a fabulous natural grotto full of stalactites and stalagmites, the huge chasm is big enough to host concerts, although not today. It was used as a hospital in WWII, unsurprising as it went on and on and on, a very safe spot to recuperate.
We passed many Barbary Apes along the way; we were going to walk up steps to the Caves but with a family of apes sitting in our way we decided against it, especially as we were carrying a picnic in rucksacks ~ we didn't really want to invite trouble!
