Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Spain (and Gibraltar)

 4/17/25

We boarded the ferry in Tangier and crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to Tarifa, Spain in about an hour. In Tarifa we boarded a bus and headed to Algeciras, a Spanish port city where we checked in to a hostal. We quickly caught a bus to Linea de Concepcion. We disembarked the bus and then walked across the border to Gibraltar where we had our passports stamped. Once in Gibraltar we had to walk across a runway (active) to get to the town. Of course they close the runway if a plane is coming. Once we arrived to the town it was like a whole new world--Gibraltar was established by Great Britain and still has close ties. So there were the classic red telephone booths, London style busses and buildings/architecture. There were also drunk British boys (maybe Gibraltar is a nice warm, southern Spring Break style destination for Brits). This stood out to us more than normal after having just been in a country where alcohol is basically prohibited.

We hopped on a bus to get to the other side of the town to get to a trail called the Mediterranean steps that would lead to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar. When we got to the trail, there was a chain across it saying it was closed for the day. And that normally you have to buy a pass for  a ridiculous 30 GBpounds. So in a way we sort of lucked out. Plus it means we had the whole "rock" to ourselves. We just ducked the chain and continued up the really cool trail, which ascends a cliffy area with the blue Mediterranean directly below you and the mountains of Africa off in the distance. 

The hike was awesome, going up steep staired sections along the cliffs with those nice aforementioned views. When we got to the top, we were treated with 360 degree views and an absolutely gorgeous sunset! We saw monkeys, rats, and snakes, and an endangered endemic bird along the way as well. We had to share the top with a couple monkeys. We walked along the top ridge a bit and then took this crazy, long stairs along the old fortification wall straight back down the other side of the mountain to reach the town, arriving right at dark. We crossed the border again, and then took the last bus back to Algeciras where we had Kebabs and went to bed

4/18/25

We caught an early train to Ronda. Upon our arrival in Ronda, we dropped our luggage at a hotel and then walked through the old city to get to the famed bridge. Along the way we got kebabs and watched some interesting Good Friday processions through the street, complete with stations of the cross and marching bands. We walked across the bridge, which sits impressively over a deep gorge (how did they build it!?). We then walked down into the gorge to several viewpoints of the bridge. Afterwards we walked around the town looking at other sites: other bridges, famous oval bullring, castle, churches, wall) and enjoyed wine slushies and McDonald's ice cream.

We then caught an early evening bus to Seville. Seville is very famous for its holy week festivities (this is not why we were going there, it was just a transport hub on our way to Portugal), which means that basically every room was booked up. We were able to find a room for about $110 USD, which is crazy expensive for us (and it was a tiny room with a shared bathroom). We went out at night to try to see some of Seville's sights, but we just kept getting trapped by running into Good Friday processionals. We just couldn't find our way around the city without being blocked by parades! And it was incredibly crowded. The processions had bands and people carrying large "floats" that appeared to be the stations of the cross. The people in the parade wore robes and then pointed hats covering their faces with holes for eyes that are very similar to the KKK hoods/hats (though of course these costumes outdate the KKK by centuries.) So in the end we gave up and went to bed.