travel
Sunrise in the Strait of Gibraltar and Gibraltar Botanical Gardens
It has been nearly 2 months since the last post. I've been busy juggling life, working-from-home and studying for exams. Finally, it's time for a well-deserved week off camping on the Wild Atlantic Way. Although, I bought a new camera recently and am impatiently hoping it arrives before we head off.
Sailing across the Strait of Gibraltar at sunrise was quite astonishing. As we passed between the two continents, separated only by 14 km, the rain subsided and the sun appeared over Morocco. I took lots of photos from dawn till sunrise. It was one of my favourite things to do on this cruise. Waking up in the dark, grabbing a cup of coffee, and heading up to the open deck to watch the night become day.
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Strait of Gibraltar Blue Hour |
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The sun begins to appear |
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The continent of Africa |
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Early morning clouds |
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Sun rising over Africa |
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Sunrise in the Strait of Gibraltar |
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Sunrise from the ship |
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Landscape of Africa at sunrise |
After breakfast, we disembarked the ship and headed off to explore the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula. We had a pretty full-on day and the sun was splitting the stones before noon. It was the hottest day of our 10-day adventure. We strolled from the harbour, through town to the botanical garden. Afterward, we began to queue for the cable car and the line was so long. I decided to buy tickets online while in the queue, but we still waited a good hour before it was our turn.
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Landscape of Gibraltar |
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Gibraltar from the water |
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Building in Gibraltar |
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Gibraltar Bookshop |
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Gibraltar Botanic Gardens |
You will have to wait for the next part to see all the photos I took from the top of the Rock. I may not have mentioned it before, but my Granny was my companion on this trip. We really enjoyed admiring all the flora. I was particularly delighted to see cacti in flower. There were so many different exotic plants we've never seen before. With Google Lens to the rescue, I was able to identify some of those I did not recognise. However, I am not sure what the white flowers in the last photo are. They are likely Rose Mallows, from the Hibiscus family. Google's first choice was Levant cotton, but on closer inspection, I think the leaves and buds are much different.
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Bougainvillea flowers |
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Flowering shrub |
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Leaves and flowers |
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Light blue flowers and Aloe Vera |
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Pink Hibiscus |
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White flowers and buds |
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