Gibraltar

Sunday Sevens #29 1.5.16

~ Making Stitches ~ 8 Comments

Hello there, happy May Day to you all. I hope the sun’s shining where ever you are and that you’re enjoying a good Bank Holiday weekend. 

A message has just popped up to tell me this is my 100th blog post – how did that happen??

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie at Threads & Bobbins blog. It features seven photos from the last seven days. To find out more about it or to join in, pop over to Natalie’s blog.

Med Steps…

Well my Med Steps training has continued this week as we are now less than two weeks away from the Med Steps 5 Challenge on 14th May. There was a bank holiday in Gibraltar on Thursday (one of our usual training days) so training has had to be fitted in around the family a lot more than usual. My first trip up was on Monday and as you can see from the photo above it was very cloudy. That made for great stepping conditions, it was cool, there was no sun and there was a double bonus of climbing up into the cool, damp cloudy conditions at the top – just when you need it most. There was no one else about; I had the whole Med Steps to myself. The wild flowers were looking gorgeous even though there was no sunshine. They are so beautiful up in the Upper Rock at the moment and probably at their peak before the hot summer sun scorches the ground. I can feel a wildflower post coming on – only problem is I don’t know most of their names…. I’ll need to do a bit of research.

More Med Steps…

My BIG Med Steps training session had to be done  yesterday morning. I decided to forego my Saturday morning lie-in, and set my alarm so I was well on my way up the steps by the time the clock struck nine. I was also on my own and I’m very proud of the fact that without anyone with me to egg me on, I managed three times round solo for the first time. I’m feeling quite proud of myself but am feeling a little bit achey as I write this. The countdown is on now though so I need to step it up a gear next week I think…..
Watercolour class

Last week I had a bit of a go working on a looser style as I painted some bird of paradise flowers. I had another go at improving them this week but it didn’t go well so I gave up and started preparation work for my next project. You may remember from my post on doors that I had a go at painting one of the old doors I had photographed. I really enjoyed doing that so I decided that now is the time to start work on my next architectural painting based on a photo I took a while ago of a particularly beautiful window in the town centre.

The painting so far…

 

I found myself with a bit of time yesterday between climbing the steps, doing the washing and heading out to a kids birthday party, so I decided to crack out my paints while everyone was happy entertaining themselves. I’d been practicing how I was going to paint the reflections on the window panes – something I’d never attempted before. I had a lot of fun with it and am very happy with the result. I just hope I don’t make a mess of the rest of the painting now!!

1st holy communion season


Gibraltar, being a predominantly Catholic place, is currently in the middle of Communion and Confirmation season. My two eldest are of the ages that their school friends are celebrating these milestones of growing up. Being a non-Catholic family it’s not something we do, but it’s lovely to see their fellow students in all their finery heading into church for this big event. For those of their friends who were receiving their Holy Communions on Wednesday, the weather was beautiful and allowed for sunny photo shoots with friends and family in the park. They looked lovely.

Off the beaten track

Considering how small Gibraltar is, I find it amazing that even after almost seven years of living here, I am still discovering new things. On Friday I took a slight detour off Main Street along a side street I must have walked past hundreds, if not thousands of times during our time here and found these windows up above my head on a residential building.  I have never seen anything like this in Gibraltar before, where the windows have been bricked up and then images of windows painted over the bricks! That’s certainly one way to liven up your facade!

Cake!

Another discovery on that street was a lovely little cupcake shop. It would have been rude to return empty handed from there don’t you think? It tasted as good as it looks. The diet went a bit out of the window, but I reckon I burned it off on the Med Steps the next day 😉
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a great week!

Ahoy there! A tall ship calls into port

~ Making Stitches ~ 18 Comments


On Sunday we had the chance to set foot on board the deck of a real sailing ship. The Jean de la Lune had called into Gibraltar on it’s voyage north to Southampton and lowered it’s gang plank to allow anyone who was interested to come and have a nosey around. As we have a pirate fan in the Postcard family it was too good a chance to turn down and we joined the queue of eager visitors on the North Mole quayside.

Jean de la Lune, a 110ft tall wooden Brigantine, was built in 1957 in Brittany in northern France, and was originally intended to be one of the last French fishing boats to be built without an engine. Her career as a fishing boat saw her have an engine fitted some years later but it came to an end in the mid 1970s.

During the last 40 years, and after a significant refit to convert her back into a sailing vessel she became a charter boat with sleeping accommodation for a crew of 4 and 12 guests.

She worked as a charter vessel taking scuba divers around the Western Isles of Scotland and in the mid 1980s she set sail for the Caribbean to help with the efforts of the Operation Raleigh charity. Jean de la Lune is now registered as a sail training ship on which people can learn how to sail.

Crowds of folk took their turn to have an explore during Sunday’s open day and there were lots of wannabe pirates on board. There was actually an offer to join the boat for the next leg of the journey from Gibraltar to Portugal – I resisted the temptation (although it would be a real adventure). The little ladders up and down to the different decks are very steep – I wouldn’t fancy attempting to negotiate them with the ship pitching and rolling on the high seas!


Our own little pirate very much enjoyed having a look around, although he wasn’t too keen about climbing aboard at first, preferring to suss it out from the quay before committing. The temptation to ring the ship’s bell and have a turn with the steering wheel was too good to miss.

Jean de la Lune has now left Gibraltar and is due in Porto, in Portugal at the weekend. After that, her next port of call is Southampton. If you fancy finding out more, check out the  website for details.

 

Sunday Sevens #28 24.4.16

~ Making Stitches ~ 11 Comments

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie at the Threads & Bobbins blog. It gives you a chance to reflect some of the things you’ve been doing in your week through a series of seven photographs. To find out more, or to join in, pop over to her blog for more information.

**Warning – this blog post contains a lot of Med Steps related things – apologies for the repetitive nature but it’s kind of consuming my world at bit at the moment!**

My Med Steps training update

Monday morning meant an early trip up the steps and boy was it worth it, the view was absolutely stunning from the top of the Rock. Look at Spain heading off into the distance!

Time didn’t allow me to train again on Tuesday or Wednesday but the weather would have stopped me so it’s probably for the best. We did the school run on Tuesday morning to a soundtrack of thunder, Wednesday was wet too. 

Thursday was dry and bright and meant for the first time we managed…

4 times round…  

I can’t quite believe that we managed it, that final (fourth) ascent was a killer. Just in case you haven’t heard, me and a couple of other crazy ladies are currently training to take part in the Med Steps 5 Challenge next month. That means we hope to climb the Med Steps five times in the one day – see, I did say crazy. 

Why? I hear you say… Well here’s how it all came about:

 My post-Christmas hangover cure…

  

My secret’s out, the reason why I’m doing the Med Steps 5 Challenge is because I agreed to do it while under the influence of Christmas spirit! ;-). My Med Steps journey so far featured in an article in our local e-magazine for parents Mum on the Rock. Do check out their website or the Postcard from Gibraltar Facebook page if you want to read it. 

And now for something completely different:

In my watercolour class this week I decided to revisit my bird of paradise flowers from Easter. This photo was taken part way through, my teacher told me to loosen up my style and be a bit less detailed. I’ll put another layer of paint on top of this once it’s dry and see what happens next week.

Dressmaking class  

This skirt’s a bit tricky, I’ve got lining, panels, a waistband and an invisible zip all going on at once -arghhhh! Deep breaths, slow and steady does it…. 

#tightsqueeze


Twice this week I got stuck behind two buses having to negotiate the same very narrow stretch of road. I have no idea how they achieve this feat without coming a cropper. Do you think they ask the passengers to breathe in? I wouldn’t fancy attempting it!! Hats off to the very skillful drivers. 

A quiet Saturday morning


This weekend has been very strange in our house. Our two eldest went away on Friday evening to a scout camp. We have spent the weekend with just one child in the house for the first time in over eight years. I was really looking forward to it but to be honest I’ve missed them and it felt really odd. Yes, it was nice not to have to intervene in sibling arguments and play referee on who’s turn it was to watch their choice on TV, but I’m not sure I liked it. 

I’ve felt very uneasy the whole time like I should be busy doing something… So I had a quiet post-breakfast sit down at the window looking out over the Bay and doing a spot of crochet – it’s a green stegosaurus this time ;-). It’s my second attempt at this Simply Crochet magazine pattern, I think they’re so cute.

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you’ve had a good weekend. 

Gibraltar’s old buildings in beautiful watercolour : James Foot exhibition April 2016

~ Making Stitches ~ 14 Comments

Regular visitors to this blog will know I have a bit of a fascination with Gibraltar’s old buildings, the slightly shabbier ones in particular. So imagine my delight when I took a few moments to shelter from yesterday’s thunderstorms at the Fine Arts Gallery in Casemates Square and had time for a good look at the James Foot exhibition.

James is an English fine artist who splits his time between his homes in London and Lakonia in southern Greece. He has had a long association with Gibraltar and has held several exhibitions of his work here over the years.  

  

In this exhibition he included a few paintings of Venice and Greece, however the vast majority of his work on show is of Gibraltar. I’m mesmerized by the water in these paintings of Greek fishing boats. So many different shades of blue and reflections – just gorgeous!

  

Enough of Greece though, let’s get back to Gibraltar… I promise that I had no idea about James Foot and his work before going on my strolls around Gibraltar looking at balconies,  doors and windows.

  
 

It does rather seem that we are on a similar wavelength when it comes to our appreciation of Gibraltar’s colonial architecture. 

  
 
Sadly, that is where any similarities between myself and this immensely talented artist ends…

  

Just look at the shadows cast by those shutters! Oh to be able to paint like that!!

   

I fear the photos I took on my phone don’t do these beautiful watercolours justice. (I did get permission from the artist himself to take the photos by the way)
    
I would love to have a go at painting one of Gibraltar’s ornate ironwork balconies, but I fear that after seeing this great work I could never produce anything half as good – just stunning!

  

And look, do you remember the special door at the rear of Holy Trinity Cathedral with the special ‘Books for Seamen’ letter box which features in my Stroll No 5 about doors? Well even that has been reproduced in beautiful watercolours – can you see it peaking out from behind that palm tree? 

  

If you are in Gibraltar and want to have a look at these and the many other beautiful paintings in this exhibition (there are 47 in all), you’ll need to be quick. The exhibition’s open for just two more days. 

I’m so glad I got the opportunity to see this work, thank goodness it rained yesterday and gave me the excuse to stop and take shelter at the gallery!

For more information on James Foot and his paintings, do have a look at his website.

Sunday Sevens #27 17.4.16

~ Making Stitches ~ 22 Comments

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie at the Threads & Bobbins blog. It gives you a chance to reflect some of the things you’ve been doing in your week through a series of seven photographs. To find out more, or to join in, pop over to her blog for more information.

I hope you’ve had a good week, it’s been a busy one here and I can’t believe Sunday’s come around so quickly again!


Med Steps training

A certain seriousness has come into our training for the Med Steps challenge this week with the realisation that we have just a month left to build up our stamina to manage 5 times up the steep climb to the top of the Rock in one day. The charity event, which raises money for the Cancer Relief Centre here in Gibraltar, is open to individuals and teams (some of whom actually run up!?). You can enter a team of 5 and each individual can do  it once or like us (in our little team of 3) you can all do it 5 times. We won’t be breaking any records and the event is open from 9 until 5 on the day so there’s a very good chance we’ll take a long time to complete it. 

One morning we all got together for a team training session – our first collective one for weeks, and did twice round. It’s starting to get really rather hot and this photo was taken on our second circuit (not too far from the top) when I stopped for a breather and some water. We are praying for overcast weather on the big day so we don’t all keel over from exhaustion and sun stroke – I fear some unflattering head gear may be de-rigeur. I’ll keep you posted on our progress, we are stepping up our training this week….

Postcard family bake-off 

We have a Postcard family birthday coming up soon and one of the little Postcards thought we should have a baking competition to decide on the birthday cake of choice ahead of the event. Sadly it was not in the luscious English countryside and neither Paul Hollywood, Mary Berry nor Mel or Sue were in attendance (probably for the best). 

Now, I do enjoy eating cakes but am not the world’s best baker by any means. In the interest of family harmony, I ‘threw’ the competition (shh – don’t tell anyone) by making millionaire’s shortbread ably assisted by the smallest Postcard while another young Postcard made a chocolate fudge cake with a garnish of sweets! The chocolate fudge cake won as it was a ‘cake’ and did taste rather good. The millionaire’s shortbread was incredibly sickly although it did improve on chilling. Now I have to make another cake in time for the birthday celebrations!! Just as well I’m doing the steps a lot in order to burn all of this off!

Final home furnishings class

This week, we had the last of our 12 home furnishings classes and we made curtain tie-backs. You may notice they are the same fabric as the cushion I made last time for the transport fan in my life – I hope he likes them!  The Transport for London inspired material came into my possession after reading  Nana Cathy’s blog post about The Remnant House (a great fabric shop in York). I had a look at their website and bought myself some great fabric to make things for my boys. So thank you Nana Cathy for telling me about this fab shop. I hope one day to visit it for real, although I fear I’ll end up adding considerably to my stash and to-do list when that time comes! 

If you are in Gibraltar or nearby, and fancy having a go at learning to make curtains, cushions and tie-backs, I was taught by Dorcas Hammond of Dorcas Hammond Designs. She’s very experienced and a great teacher. Pop into her shop on Governor’s Street or find her on Facebook to get more info on her classes.

Dressmaking class

Sewing has begun in ernest on my first ever lined skirt in my dressmaking class. I had to unpick and re-sew my invisible zip but apart from that it was a good lesson this week and I’m pleased with the progress I made. Fingers crossed the rest of the skirt will go well 🙂

Watercolour class

  
In watercolour class this week, we focused on skies and the different techniques you can use to paint them. One of the most interesting finds was that by painting a thin wash of raw sienna first even under blue you can get a really nice glow. I’ve got work to do on my cloud formation as they are a little sausuge shaped for now but it was fun.

A nocturnal visitor

Spring must be here because for the first time this year I spotted one of these little chaps on the bathroom window. You can see the lizards or geckos even in the middle of winter here if it’s a sunny day. They crawl out from their hibernation place and bask in a sheltered sunny spot, but they disappear long before the sun goes down and the temperature drops. This week though, we have started to have a few warmer evenings and so this little chap was lying in wait for an unsuspecting moth to come fluttering next to our bathroom window and pounce! It’s quite spectacular when it happens – like a mini version of ‘Wildlife on One’ on your window!

Bunny update

Bunny’s doing well and his fringe is continuing to grow, however because of his long hair/fur he has a tendency to get dreadlocks and matted areas despite regular brushing so we are going to  have to take him to the vets soon to have a bit cut out near his tail. It’s a bit close to his tail for us to want to attempt to cut in case we hurt him. He also needs some injections so that he can have a hop about on our back patio too… poor bunny it’s as bad as having to hoodwink kids into going to the clinic for jabs 🙁 not looking forward to that.

I hope you have a great week, goodbye for now!

A stroll around Gibraltar No 9: A trip on the cable car 

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Hello there, I’ve not taken you out for a stroll for a few weeks, so I thought it was high time we went for another explore around the place I call home. A few weeks back, my parents came over for a visit and we took the opportunity to do a few of the touristy things in Gibraltar which we haven’t done for a while. 

When we first arrived in Gibraltar, we used to frequently take a trip up in the cable car to the top of the Rock and take a leisurely walk down the roads on a Sunday afternoon. When we were suffering from homesickness it felt almost like we were in the English countryside on a summer’s day (well if you don’t look too closely at the olive trees and other Mediterranean vegetation!). 

We hadn’t done that for a while so one weekend day during their visit, the whole Postcard family accompanied by the Grandparents bought our tickets for the cable car and went for a ride.

I took this photo of a poster at the cable car base station. Not the best map I’m afraid and there’s a nice bit of product placement on the modes of transport but it gives those of you unfamiliar with Gibraltar a clearer idea of where we went. 

To the right of the centre of the picture is the label Alameda Gardens that was the subject of my Stroll around Gibraltar No 7 and is right next to the cable car base station. Follow the line (or cables) from there up to the Upper Rock and that’s the destination for the cable car.

The photo above shows the main entrance to the Alameda Gardens as the cable car begins its ascent up to the top of the Rock. I’m afraid I didn’t get the chance to take too many pictures as it was rather busy and we were packed in a bit!

It also just takes about six minutes to rise from the base station to the summit, during that time it’s very easy to get transfixed by the view, trying to spot out familiar sights, schools, houses and parks which we visit regularly.

It was such a lovely day and we had a slightly hazy view of Morocco across the Straits of Gibraltar ahead.

And then we arrived!

Of course there’s no show without punch, and naturally the moment you step off the cable car, the apes are waiting to pounce and one did. A tourist on our trip up carrying a plastic bag full of food got off behind us. An ape used our eldest’s head as a springboard to grab the bag. It was all over in seconds and so quick I didn’t even see it despite being about a metre away! 

There are many signs warning you not to take food up to the top, and to keep your bags closed and not to feed the apes etc etc, but of course there are always a few people who don’t bother taking notice and then get a fright when their sandwiches or sweets get pinched!

It’s well worth taking your chances with the apes though, because check out the view! This is looking north, to the left of the Rock you can see the Gibraltar airport runway and beyond that is La Linea de la Concepción the nearest Spainish town to us.

I can’t make my mind up whether Gibraltar looks smaller or bigger than it feels from up here, a bit smaller I suppose because it’s all so tightly packed. Down below us here in this picture is the town centre with M&S, British Home Stores and all the delights Main Street has to offer. Also Commonwealth Park, Morrisons supermarket, St Bernard’s Hospital, several schools and housing for thousands, not to mention the cruise ship terminal, a new marina for dozens  of small boats and offices for countless businesses.

Beyond Gibraltar in this picture shows Campamento (which lies beyond La Linea) and the delightful oil refinery at the head of the Bay of Gibraltar.

The apes are clearly unimpressed with the view – they get to see it every day after all. A bit of mutual grooming and flea picking is far more preferable!

Down on the eastern and less densely populated side of the Rock you can find Catalan Bay (home to a fishing village and the Caleta Hotel) in the picture  above, and Sandy Bay, home to a retirement village and a few holiday homes, in the one  below.

After taking in the views and admiring our home from above, we decided to begin the leisurely walk down the hill  and homeward bound. In order to get down though, you have to walk through one of the official ape feeding stations where they get their fruit and veg 5-a-day from the conservation workers who look after them and keep them healthy.

For obvious reasons this is a big hot spot for tourists and we had to negotiate quite a few taxis and tourists stopping to take photos, so I thought it would be rude not to pap a few of the performers myself.

It’s so much easier walking downwards than climbing up!

We were really lucky to have a lovely warm day for our ramble down the Rock, almost like a British summer’s day. This really is my favourite time of year in Gibraltar, not too hot and not too wet!

Despite there being a fair few other visitors to the Upper Rock that day, it didn’t take us long to have the meandering roads down to town to ourselves, it was so peaceful.

This little chap was making the most of the sunny weather and was doing a bit of sunbathing on a rock as we passed. I have seen quite a few lizards (or geckos – I’m not entirely sure what their correct title is) so far this spring, it’s so nice to see them out and about, scuttling away into the undergrowth or into cracks as soon as they sense they are no longer alone!

There was a fair bit of flora on show as well as fauna, these strongly perfumed wild freesias were in abundance and have been for weeks now, although they are less common in the last week or so, there were also some beautifully scented lavenders in flower too.

  

And finally, do you remember this picture from my Stroll around Gibraltar No 6: from sea to summit (in the rain!)…  

 

…well, it was a much clearer day when we took our trip up the cable car – just look at the view now!!

Thank you so much for joining us on this stroll down the Rock, do pop back again soon!

Sunday Sevens #26 10.4.16

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Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie at Threads & Bobbins. If you fancy joining in, pop over to Natalie’s blog to find out more.
 Gibraltar’s national flower 

I have been really good this week and managed two trips up the Med Steps. On the first trip up I spotted these beautiful flowers, they are Gibraltar candytuft, the national flower of Gibraltar. The Rock is the only place where they grow. 

 Dressmaking class

  

This week’s class meant practicing attaching lining to a waistband. That’s the last of my pre-skirt samples after practicing invisible zips last time. Next lesson means I can begin my latest skirt for real – can’t wait!

Home furnishings class

 

In my home furnishings class I made a cushion, the first time I’ve ever made one using a zip. This is specially for a young man in my life with an appreciation for all things public transport related.

Meet Tracey Triceratops   

Remember the dinosaur I started crocheting on holiday last week? Well she’s finished and is now living in her new home! I used a pattern from Simply Crochet magazine.

 A thank you gift 
A few weeks ago I made some little crocheted hearts for an Instagram friend of mine @bonnies_little_crafts. She’s on a mission to collect 7000 woolly hearts to give to visitors to the Yarndale festival in her hometown of Skipton. This week I received my very own woolly heart as a thank you along with a really lovely letter. It made my day. If you would like to get involved in the #7000challenge take a look at her Instagram account.

Med Steps 5 Challenge  

On my second trip up the Med Steps this week I stepped up my training a bit and managed two circuits. Crikey it was hard work, and it’s starting to get really hot up there. How we’ll manage 5 circuits in mid May for the #MedSteps5 challenge, I have no idea!! 

A busy day in port

  
Yesterday there were three cruise ships in  port. The perfect day to avoid Main Street! It gets so busy in town when the cruise liners are here. I believe that later this month four will visit on the same day – the busiest day of the year for cruise visitors. I think we’ll be lying low that day!

Have a great week!

Celebrating women’s creativity

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Gibraltar’s thriving art scene is being showcased again with a pioneering women only exhibition at the Rock’s newest gallery. The Face Frames Gallery launched the show on 8th March to mark International Women’s  Day. 

  

The small but perfectly formed art gallery is crammed with beautiful works in a variety of media including traditional oils and watercolours, but also fused glass, photography, collage and sculpture.

  

Female artists were invited to send in work to be exhibited and the show was chosen from the many entries.

  

Exhibiting artists include some of the Rock’s well-known established artists as well as some younger and new talent. A competition was held for GCSE and A-Level Art students at Westside (the Gibraltar Girls’ Secondary School). The winners’ pieces hang alongside the other pieces by adult artists.

  

Views of Gibraltar feature within the show (above & 2 below are just a selection) but many other images feature in the diverse exhibition.

   

As well as raising the profile of local female artists, the event’s opening night raised funds and awareness for the local Women in Need charity. The shelter which offers a safe haven for victims of domestic abuse received more than £200 of donations on the night.

  

It really is worth a visit of you are nearby, it never ceases to amaze me the amount of talent such a small place can inspire. The number of artists and crafts people per capita in Gibraltar must be far higher than normal surely?
  

Th exhibition will run for two months and many of the paintings are available to buy.

  

The Face Frames Gallery officially opened it’s doors in December with it’s inaugural exhibition of local artist Leslie Gaduzo’s work, this is it’s second exhibition.

    

For more information on the gallery and the exhibition, take a look at the Face Frames Facebook page or email faceframesgallery@hotmail.com.

  

A stroll around Gibraltar No 8: Dolphins

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This week’s stroll was less of a walk and more of a voyage. We took full advantage of the luxury of a long bank holiday weekend (it was Commonwealth Day on Monday) and the great warm spring weather and took to the high seas (well the Bay & Straits of Gibraltar) in search of dolphins. 

We are surrounded here on three sides by water; the Mediterranean to the East, the Straits of Gibraltar to the South and the Bay of Gibraltar to the West (and the Atlantic Ocean a bit further West!). This means that our local waters are frequented by several varieties of dolphins and occasionally Orcas. A couple of local companies offer boat trips out into the Bay and beyond with the 99% promise that you will see dolphins. 

As we had visitors over who’d never had a go on one of these trips, we thought we’d give it a try. We took our seats on our dolphin boat at Marina Bay in the March sunshine not sure of what we’d see.

The water was as calm as you could hope for and we waited excitedly to set off.

Before long, the Rock of Gibraltar was far behind us. There she is, in all her glory. 

On our way out into the Bay, we had planes overhead coming in to land at Gibraltar Airport.

  Photo credit: my Dad 🙂 



 

We also saw a large group of yachts making the most of the sunshine and spring breezes.  

 Looking towards Campamento

Once we were properly out into the Bay we were called to the front of the boat and it was time to scan the waves looking for dolphins. We have been on these trips several times as a family since we came to Gibraltar to live and every time we have been lucky enough to see some dolphins. However, they are wild animals and particularly at this time of year, they aren’t as common in the Straits and the Bay as they usually are. After quite a while searching the waves for a dorsal fin breaking the surface, the boat’s skipper announced that he was going to take us to another part of the Bay and try our luck there.

 Algeciras Docks

In his photo you can see tankers traveling through the Straits of Gibraltar, the Spanish mainland on the right, and the mountains straight ahead are Morocco.

  

It was the right decision to move on elsewhere because we soon saw a pod of common dolphins, several mothers with their babies along side.

  

Aren’t they just beautiful?

  

We were so lucky because after a while of watching them a short distance away, they came closer to the boat and we got a great view of them.

  

After several minutes, the pod took their leave from us and headed off. At this point the skipper and his crew announced that they’d take us further south into the Straits as Orcas had been spotted there recently – how amazing would that be to see whales?? We headed to a spot about half a mile off Europa Point lighthouse (the most southerly point of Gibraltar) and soon literally hundreds of dolpins could be seen arcing out of the water to dive for fish. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a clear photo of them as they were too far away and too quick for me to snap in time, but I did get to see the Rock from a totally new angle. I’ve never been this far south of Gibraltar in a boat before, so it was great to see where we live from a different perspective.

  
 

A few of the mature common dolphins who had been diving for fish came closer to the boat and raced along with us. It was so exhilarating to see these wild creatures at such close quarters and swimming around beneath our boat right where we were standing!

  

We didn’t see any Orcas but that didn’t matter at all as we saw so many dolphins!

  

After about two hours out in the boat it was time to turn around and head back home to Gibraltar. The crew said it had been the best trip of the year so far and it was definitely our best dolphin trip to date (we have seen dolphins before but not so many). It was magical; sunshine, calm seas and plenty of dolphins who came out to play for us. We won’t leave it so long before doing it again!

  

Our trip was with Dolphin Adventure this time. If you would like to find out more, check out their website. (I haven’t been paid to advertise this by the way, I just wanted to share a great afternoon’s trip out!). 

Thanks for visiting. Until next time, bye for now!

 

 

A stroll around Gibraltar No 7: The Alameda Gardens Part 1

~ Making Stitches ~ 16 Comments

The Alameda Botanic Gardens sits snugly between the town centre of Gibraltar and the South District. A calm, quiet, green oasis amongst the busy and densely populated streets, the Alameda Gardens are the lungs of Gibraltar. When we first moved to the Rock after leaving our ‘average’ three bedroomed semi-detached house with a front and back garden,  moving into an apartment with small children was a shock to the system. Very fortunately for us we lived very close to the gardens and they were a real life-saver and sanity restorer for me. We had lost our garden (which we rarely used because of the inclement British weather) but we had the most gorgeous park a short stroll from our new home.

We visited the Gardens again at the weekend as a family, it had been a few months since we’d been and we had such a great time, I thought I’d share this beautiful part of Gibraltar with you.

The Botanical Gardens were first established in 1816 and were funded in the beginning with a series of charitable donations. They fell into disrepair towards the end of the last century but for the past 20 years or so, they have been maintained by a team of horticulturalists and a band of volunteers.

It is such a beautiful, calm place to be. Full of mature trees and plants and brimming with history.

The main entrance to the Alameda Gardens is watched over by this bust of General George Eliott a former Governor of Gibraltar during the Great Siege of 1779 – 1782.

The beautiful surroundings are more than just a nice place to be, they offer a valuable educational resource to some of the school children of Gibraltar too. The Alameda Gardening Club gives kids, many of whom would otherwise grow up with no experience of gardening (because they live in apartments), the chance to get their hands dirty and have a go at growing things. How cute is the Bee Hotel and the flowery scarecrow?!

I think this little section of the gardens is the cheeriest place of all, as clearly the children have had a great time tending their little patch.

A stone’s throw away from the children’s garden is the beautiful Dell, the lush green sunken garden is the venue for many Gibraltar based wedding ceremonies and photo shoots.

The luscious planting is so well maintained and is picture perfect.

This beautiful section of the gardens isn’t open to the public but can be enjoyed from above from this stunning footbridge:

Are you beginning to understand why I loved this place so much when we first arrived in Gib? It’s stunning. We have had so many happy hours here, teaching small people to ride bikes on this pathway below, having picnics on a bench when apartment life became too stifling and collecting fallen leaves and bug hunting with my little botanist.

Every part of this place is just lovely, from the formal promenades to the meadow style sections. It’s just so green – which is so needed by a garden and plant lover like myself.

The Alameda Gardens even have a literary connection, this statue is of Molly Bloom, a character in James Joyce’s novel Ulysses, who spent her youth in Gibraltar. The novel makes mention of the Alameda Gardens and for that reason, the statue was placed here.

As you would expect from a botanical garden, there are a wide variety of plants on display with various flower beds and areas dedicated to plants from specific parts of the world or particular climates. A big favourite with the younger members of the Postcard family is this tropical section with the wooden walkway through the palms and banana leaves. Partly because it feels like you are walking through the jungle and partly because it’s right next door to the park!


Speaking of which – check it out! How cool is this park?? When we first arrived in Gibraltar seven years ago, it didn’t look like this. It had the feeling of a slightly neglected play park from the 1970s. I was right back to my childhood with the metal see-saw, roundabout and squeaking swings! However a few years back the park was shut down for several months and this great adventure playground sprung up in it’s place. It’s set out over 3 levels with activities for the smaller children at the bottom (shown here) and more adventurous things further up including a fab see-saw which several children can fit on at once, a great spinning tee-pee shaped climbing frame and a climbing wall.

Perhaps the best thing of all is that it’s set within the gardens and that means it benefits from the shade of the mature trees all around it so even in the heat of mid-summer you can use it and benefit from a bit of shady respite. It’s such a great park and one which my boys love. We’ve had such fun times here with friends over the years.

Oh Alameda – how we love you so! We really should visit more often!

I do hope that you have enjoyed this stroll round Gibraltar’s Botanic Gardens, I have called this Part 1 because I have only just scraped the surface of what this great place has to offer and I’m sure I’ll be back again soon to share a bit more of this gem with you.

 

This is by no means a comprehensive view of the gardens, just a collection of photos and ramblings. If you would like to find out more about this beautiful green oasis, please check out the official website.

Until the next time, thanks for stopping by and bye for now!