Friday: The Final Day

Our last day in Spain!

After quick wrap-up exercises in the morning class students received back their final exams and their program certificates, amid exclamations of dismay that their stay in Spain was ending all too quickly. With warm good-byes to their teacher, we set off for a fun trip to Gibraltar, a perfect way to bridge the departure from Spain and the arrival back to the English-speaking world.

As is typical, our bus stopped dropped us off at La Linea and we walked across the border from Spain to Gibraltar and were quite suddenly in the world of the quirky English spoken only in this one special British territory. As we toured Gibraltar we learned of the pivotal role this small community has played throughout history, made very clear by our stop at Europa Point from which we could see how close Africa was just across the narrow Straight. Then we were on to ascend the Rock to search out the famous Barbary Macaques, whom we easily found as we dismounted the bus to go deep into the caves inside the Rock of Gibraltar.

Some were sleepy, some were energetic, some ignored us, some dashed toward us, but all of these well-loved monkeys were entertaining and the subjects of innumerable photos. Once inside we explored the caves together and in small groups, jumping out from behind huge stalagmites to terrify each other, of course.

We paused at the theater seating strategically placed to take advantage of the natural acoustics of the cavern. After encouragement from our whole group, Sydney and Emilia treated us to a quick impromptu concert, the very best way to experience this acoustical wonder for ourselves.

Our long bus ride took us back to Cádiz and plans to dine with our families and walk to La Caleta beach one last time.