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By Administrator
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Monday, 27 April 2009 19:57 |
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Rosia Bay Gibraltar
Situated at the opposite end of the "Rock" from Spain, Rosia Bay is a historic area, where it was said that Nelsons body was brought after his death aboard the HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. It was here that he rested prior to being returned home to England. It is more than just history however, but also present day, with a bright welcoming area, lots of parking, great little shops and some wonderful things to do to entertain you.  Rosia Bay holds the distinction of being more than just a beach and more than just a bay. It is a unique attraction in its own right, a coastal area that is part port, part tourist attraction and part local entertainment.
Summers in Gibraltar can be quite hot, and the Rosia Bay area is one of the better beaches around, holding some great amenities for both traveler, tourist to Gibraltar and local resident alike. The Rosia Bay area is also home to some incredible fishing opportunities as both locals and tourists will attest. The shores of Rosia Bay are lined with superb cafes that will serve up anything from a cold drink to a hot meal, and the prices that you pay will surprise you with how reasonable they are. Rosia Bay is not the typical tourist area, but full of history, of local colour and a wonderful atmosphere of small town. The locals say that one of the best things about Rosia Bay is that there is usually parking available. Unknown to many, the parking in Gibraltar can get to be a bit nightmarish, with minimal chance to park close to what you want to view. Not so in Rosia, which offers adequate parking, though you may have a bit of a problem availing yourself of it, as the spaces are a bit tight.  As you arrive in Rosia Bay you will find two more bays, much smaller in size. Rosia Bay, being a natural cove or sorts, offers its own shelter from the breezes that can blow through, and does also offer you a choice of two swimming pools as well.
Rosia Bay though is more than just a beach. It also happens to be a pier area, a port area, and though it is primarily an entertainment area now, perhaps, it has in the past assumed a much larger role in the culture, the interaction, the growth and economy of Gibraltar. Rosia Bay is also the site of Nelsons Anchorage. South of Trafalgar Cemetery, Nelsons anchorage is a museum that hosts a multitude of things to view that will give you a closer picture of what the area was like in that time frame of the Battle of Trafalgar. More than just a museum, Nelson's anchorage is the older port of Gibraltar on Rosia Bay, and for the historian or just the avid history buff, Nelsons Anchorage also pin points for you where the body of Admiral Nelson was brought ashore, preserved--so the legend says, inside of a rum barrel. Along here are two more little bays, one called Camp Bay and the other named Little Bay, which form the protective type cove that Rosia Bay enjoys. Nelson's Anchorage Museum is
Open 9.30 - 3.15pm Monday - Saturday
Last entry 5.00pm
It is Closed Sundays
Admission £1.00 If you choose to continue walking past the two small bays, you will find a small road tunnel that will see you arriving at Europa Point, where you can view the three primary tourist attractions of Europa point and indeed attractions of Gibraltar, the lighthouse, the Shrine and the mosque. Take some time to visit Rosia Bay, part of Gibraltar's historic past and its beautiful present. |
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By Administrator
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Monday, 27 April 2009 19:57 |
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HTML clipboard The Alameda Botanic Gardens The Rock of Gibraltar has a lengthy history that includes many long sieges, multiple conquests and a lengthy military culture, but more than this, it has a fascinating eco-system as well that is unmatched elsewhere on earth. Just as the culture, the architecture and the people are all influenced by multiple cultures and areas, so too is the plant and animal life here influenced by areas other than the Rocks immediate location.  The cultures include Moors, Spanish, Genoese and British and each of them have brought with them their own influence on the botanical inclusions of the area, bringing with them ideas on planting, cultivation, deforestation, and new plant life that is seen in Gibraltar.
By an large, much of Gibraltar's history of necessity included military, since the many attempts at conquest and siege meant that was first and foremost in everyone's mind, so it wasn't until about the 1800's that anyone really took a hard look at what was necessary for the well being of those who lived there day to day. Sir George Don, who was then the Lieutenant-Governor of Gibraltar, was viewed as being probably the first public leader of Gibraltar who saw fit to dedicate any amount of public resources to the well being of the general population, including founding a hospital for civilians. About 1815 he is noted as stating that in consideration of the fact that "there being no place of public recreation in this Garrison" he "was induced…..to establish a walk around the Grand Parade, and form what is called in this country an Alameda, where the inhabitants might enjoy the air protected from the extreme heat of the sun". He avoided using public money by taking contributions from the citizens and military as well as some from the theatre, and raised funds in lotteries as well to create what he had in mind.  The Grand Parade, his choice of sites, was a grounds used for assembly and other purposes, that was south of Gibraltar town, and had been a red sand desert, that was used for multiple things, including a sort of planning and building area, a vegetable garden for the troops during the siege times and also as a cemetery in other areas.
It have been a hub for the military activity for the various rulers also over the years, as it was an easy landing area as well. Gradually the land around that Parade was built up, and was gradually expanded to include about 8 hectares for what is now called Alameda Gardens. The name used is taken from the Spanish, Alamo, which is a tree that according to the older writings, was grown along the Grand Parade. Alameda Garden was opened in 1816, and was covered by the paper, The Gibraltar Chronicle, who are quoted as saying, "The walks at the New Alameda being completed they will be opened to the public tomorrow afternoon, at 4 o’clock, when three Bands of Music will attend."  The gardens were laid out in with paths that intersected and interconnected, beds were terraced and much of it was done in the Jurassic limestone that is native to the area, some tinted a pale pink by the red sand that is also local. Later, gas lights were adding and a whales jawbone was used to make an archway in the gardens.
The gardens went along quite well used until the early 1970's when they were in such total disrepair as to be unsightly in areas. They remained so until the early 1990's when the Gibraltar Government consulted with a group of environmental managers and consultants who were then contracted to take the gardens in hand, bring them back up to par and manage them. They were converted into the Gibraltar Botanic Gardens, with a view toward continued development of the gardens to promote conservation, education and simply enjoyment of the gardens themselves. There are conservation programs taking place there, as well as daily viewing for the enjoyment of the public. Among the sights of interest the visitor to Alameda Gardens will see are such things as the Red sand soil, lovely plants such as the Paper Narcissus, rare plants such as the Gibraltar sea Lavender, and multiple plants found only on Gibraltar. The garden's hours are as follows: 8am to 9pm or sunset, which ever is earlier. Admission: Free The Gardens are staffed by: Director: Dr John Cortes
Curator: Brian M Lamb
Horticulturist: Andrew Abrines Contact Address:
The Alameda
Red Sands Road
PO Box 843
Gibraltar Telephone:
Administration/Reception +350 20041235 |
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By Administrator
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Monday, 27 April 2009 19:57 |
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Trafalgar Cemetery Gibraltar The Trafalgar Cemetery, noted as an attraction for tourists to visit, was purportedly the cemetery in Gibraltar that was used to bury the dead for those who were killed in the battle of Trafalgar, however the reality is that there are curiously only a few buried here who were killed in the battle of Trafalgar. Trafalgar Cemetery was used between 1798 and 1814 for burials of those who died in Gibraltar. Consecrated for use in 1798 it began being used seven years prior to the battle of Trafalgar, which was fought on 21 October 1805.  At that time known as the Southport Ditch Cemetery, the majority of those it contained would die of several severe epidemics of Yellow Fever, which took place in Gibraltar in the years 1804, 1813, and 1814.
At the time, called, as previously mentioned, the Southport Ditch Cemetery, it was also sometimes viewed as part and parcel of the older, more noteworthy St. Jago’s Cemetery, which was sitting on the opposite side of Charles V Wall. Just outside of the Southport Gate, Southport Ditch made what was part of the natural defenses of the town, as far back as the time of the Spaniards in Gibraltar. Southport Ditch shows up on maps of Gibraltar that were made in 1627 (as a “Fosso” just south of “Puerta de Africa” or Southport Gate) by Luis Bravo which maps reside now in the British Museum. The western part of the ditch, which had been always been used as a market garden for most of the nineteenth century was backfilled when the Referendum arch opened in 1967. It appears that the association of the cemetery with the battle of Trafalgar didn't take place until a score of years after the actual event, and it is even conjectured that the two victims of the Battle of Trafalgar buried there may have been the reason for the renaming. Of those buried in the Trafalgar Cemetery, only two known graves belong to victims of the Trafalgar battle, most of the others who perished in that hard fought battle would be buried at sea. The British Navy, after the battle, would later transport Lord Nelson's body to London for a state funeral, leaving just two heroes of the conflict to be buried in the Cemetery that earned the name of the battle so many years after the event.  Those graves, numbered 121 and 101, contain the remains of the Lieut. William Forster of the Royal Marine Corps, serving on the H.M.S. Mars and Lieut. Thomas Norman, who served on the H.M.S. Columbus.
The remainder of the seamen who took wounds in the battle were brought to Gibraltar, and if they later died of wounds received there, were buried north of the Charles V Wall, which lies on the opposite side of the Trafalgar Cemetery. Recently it is reported that a plaque was placed there to commemorate the site for visitors to the area. There are however, buried within the confines of Trafalgar Cemetery, victims of multiple other sea battles in the area, such as the battle of Algeciras, which took place in 1801 and similar actions around Cádiz and Málaga that occurred in 1810 and 1812. The Napoleonic Wars offered up a share of their victims to the Trafalgar cemetery, even if they were not of the Battle of Trafalgar. After 1814, when the majority of the burials took place, the cemetery fell into disarray and was no longer used, save for one single exception, a burial which took place in 1838. There are multiple interesting stones, which commemorate those buried there, and some which remind us of the perils of the past, commemorate the dead in the terrible epidemics of the past years. Among the most interesting and unique attractions of Gibraltar, those things you write down to see while you visit the Rock, don't forget to add Trafalgar Cemetery. |
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By Administrator
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Monday, 27 April 2009 19:57 |
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Southport Gates Gibraltar Among the most impressive of the fortifications of Gibraltar are the Southport Gates, still in evidence today, and still impressive by any standards and well worth spending some time to view. The Southport gates are part of what was once a series of walls and fortifications that were part of Gibraltar's defenses for literally hundreds of years. Built originally in the mid 1500's, they were renewed, or rebuilt, according to whom one asks, in the mid 1800's. 
Gibraltar was an area that was prone to sieges, wars, neighbor accosting neighbor and when that wasn't taking place, piracy was rampant in the area.
Imagine if you will the days when law was not so much in evidence and in actuality, might, made right. This area was home to a pirate called Barbarossa, who at one point in Gibraltar's history attacked the city and captured myriad of its citizens to sell for slaves. Not content with just the slaves, they sacked the Shrine of the Lady, taking many valuables and left the area. They were intercepted by Mendoza who had given chase and were defeated near Cartagena, with many of the captives being freed and returned. In addition to this, nine sieges of major proportions took place. It is then, understandable to us, this necessity for walls, gates, tunnels and fortresses, and the evidence of their existence is part of the charm, the mystique and the excitement of a visit to Gibraltar.  They are reminders, ancient landmarks that tell us of a time when things were a bit more barbaric than today. Evidence of a time when the Moors landed on the shores of Gibraltar, or the Spaniards drove them out, only to be themselves ousted by a British invasion.
The walls, the gates and the land itself offer up a story of a past that was rife with conflict, represented by the many fortifications that stand as evidence to the need of the people for security. The Southport Gates offer up their own story of such times, originating (though not yet physically as these gates) when Gibraltar was under Spanish rule, around the time when Tarik invaded Spain, declared Gibraltar his own( it is in fact believed that Gibraltar is named for this what it was called in this time span) and built upon the spot where those gates now stand, a formidable fortress, that are widely believed to be the foundation for the Southport Gates. Many years later, when again under the rule of the Spaniards, the Southport Gates were built, with a treatise written on the defenses that were necessary to keep the city safe. Today the remainder of the Southport gates are a visible reminder of the past that Gibraltar lived through, a hold over from a time less peaceful than that which we enjoy today. The tourist to Gibraltar who views the Southport Gates, or the Puerta De Africa, will see the arms of Charles of Spain above it, columns on either side which carry a scroll reading, Plus Ultra, a reference to the Pillars of Hercules, and on the bottom, left side, you will see the arms of Gibraltar, flanked on the right by those of the Spanish Governor who was then in control. The Southport Gates are more than just one of the splendid attractions of Gibraltar, more than a symbol of a more violent time, or of the many fortifications of a city, but a living breathing story, that the visitor to Gibraltar should take the time to read for themselves. |
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Sightseeing
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Before the First World War, Parson’s Lodge became a coast auxiliary with a new searchlight, while the artillery batteries falling into disuse. 
Parson’s Lodge was abandoned in 1956 by the British, but is still used by them as a training area for military exercises. 
