Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 08:26:42 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Rock of Gibraltar on Christmas Day... driving adventures
Buenos Dias,
Christmas morning:
Woke up.
Couldn't figure out why the shower was only giving
ice-cold water.
After about 10 minutes fidgeting with the knobs with
the water just getting colder and colder no matter
what I did, i saw two little knobs behind the toilet.
These were labled "H" and "C" ... yes, the temperature
control for the shower was outside the tub, behind the
toilet!
Had my hot shower, and started driving towards
Gibraltar....
Then I found out that i'm running low on gas. The first gas station i pulled into on a freeway rest area was closed for christmas.. so i kept driving, getting nervous now... The next gas station was open (Thank goodness!) but did not accept credit cards. i had 80 euros left in my pocket, and half of that cash went for gas. i browsed around inside the gas station for some snacks and didn't find anything interesting so kept driving - that was a mistake.
There are no restaurants open on christmas day! i did not eat ANYTHING the whole day - not even 1 bite, and after just 1 small vege sandwhich the previous night i was starving all day today!
Anyway, first and only sightseeing attraction this day was the Rock Of Gibraltar. This was very nice! It was also a semi-clear day and the coast of morocco was visible just across the straits. (It helps that there are mountains on the coast!) There were a couple of attractions on "The Rock" but this was Christmas day, so everything was closed. There is a museum on the rock's history, a Moorish castle, an "ape habitat", and a tram that goes to the top. Everything closed. But I was driving up the rock, following signs for "Upper Rock" - which is actually behind the main, taller rock. But still very nice views from up there of the African coast, the town of Gibraltar and the town of Algericas, Spain.
The car's navigation system did not work in Gibraltar, and making my way back out was an adventure. Lot of 1-way streets .... i now understand the difference between a "No Parking" sign and a "One Way" sign -- they're very similar and very easy to confuse one for the other, but i figured it out. I'm so proud of myself.... all it took was a 300-yard reverse on one of these tiny roads as a car was approaching from the front!
Now I know.
Well, after that, it was to the town of Cadiz, Spain. My hotel was "Partner Donana Hotel" and the address was listed as "Orfeon Santa Cecilia, Cadiz" -- that's it, no number on the street. I entered that in the car's navigation system, and it pointed to a town 50 km north of Cadiz. Something was wrong with that, so I went to Cadiz anyway, trusting the map I had printed which showed the location of this hotel in downtown Cadiz. Try it out -- go to www.expedia.com, look up Cadiz, Spain hotels, and it'll show Partner Donana Hotel, with a nice little thumbtack on a nice little map showing where the hotel is located -- right in the heart of downtown Cadiz. so convenient...
WRONG!
There is no street named Orfeon Santa Cecilia in Cadiz. There is no street named Orfeon Santa Cecilia ANYWHERE in all of Spain! Orfeon Santa Cecilia is an area... not a town or street or anything like that. I should've trusted the car's navigation system. I punched it up again and followed the 50 km or so roads north of Cadiz, and finally came to a town named Sanlucar de Barrameda. A very small village on the Atlantic coast. Upon entering the town i could see signs for "Hotel Partner Donana"... ok this was good! After roaming around the town for a while (GPS was useless inside the town) looking for this hotel i finally parked the car next to a beach and asked someone where the hell this hotel is located! (the hotel information said it's "100 yeards from the beach")
Well, the guy pointed across the street and said "esto"... i walked around to the other side of the building across the street and there it was! Big huge letters - "Partner Donana Hotel".
i hadn't eaten anything the whole day... so after all the other things that happened this day, the lack of food didn't exactly help my temper any...
But dec 26th was a new day, new hopes..............
Rock of Gibraltar: Please read the "Warning" sign below VERY carefully - its pretty funny
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Another fort in Spain:
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In case you did not get the joke on the "Warning" sign above: I guess if
you're Spanish you will only owe a fine of 50 pounds, but if you're English,
you'll owe 500 pounds!
