Gibraltar #265806

The common tour in Spain does not include Gibraltar. Indeed it is not a part of Spain, for, though connected with the Spanish Peninsula, it belongs to England; and to one who likes to preserve a unity in his memories of a country and people, this modern fortress, with its English garrison, is not in color with the Old picturesque king dom of the Goths and Moors. Nor is it on the great lines of travel. It is not touched by any railroad, and by steamers only at intervals of days, so that it has come to be known as a place which it is at once difficult to get to and to get away from. Hence easy-going travellers, who are content to take circular tickets and follow fixed routes, give Gibraltar the go-by, though by so doing they miss a place that is unique in the world — unique in position, in picturesqueness, and in history. That mighty Rock, standing out of the water and in the water, (as on the day when the Old world perished is one of the Pillars of Hercules, that once marked the very end of the world; and around its base ancient and modern history flow to gether, as the waters of the Atlantic mingle with those.