Arriving At Gibraltar
Arrival at Gibraltar was early in the morning of March 23rd.
You certainly can’t miss the Rock.
The Ship And The Itinerary
The cruise I went on was on the Oriana. It started and finished at Southampton and stops were to be in Corunna, Casablanca, Gibraltar, Cadiz and Lisbon.
As in everything, I had objectives. These were getting a bit of sun and also looking at the sites in the stops.
One thing I didn’t do though, was enough preparation, but then in some ways that was always the way C and I planned our holidays. We liked to see what turned up!
The Circular Argument Over The Falklands
Whatever the Pope thinks about the Falklands is all fairly irrelevant, despite what was said in the my post about the Daily Mirror, as he has other more pressing problems.
In the end though, economic arguments will win through, so consider these facts.
Argentina’s economy is pretty much a basket case and with policies like nationalising oil companies as reported here, they are annoying possible supporters like Spain.
Spain too, would like to get rid of that irritant Gibraltar, but with their economic problems, they are not going to do anything rash in the area. Although, they do block various EU measures because of it. I think the Spanish are sensible enough to realise that British visitors are an important part of their economy.
The UK, is also a big destination for Spanish unemployed, where they are one of the bigger groups of immigrants.
And then there’s the Spanish enclaves on the coast of North Africa, which to Morocco are probably the same sort of irritant as Gibraltar is to Spain and the Falklands are to Argentina.
So the economy and the politics go round and round.
Throw in possible Scottish independence, which would be an encouragement to some parts of Spain, that yearn for independence and you have a big, interconnected mix.
You probably have two sensible players and one that has a reputation as a bit of an opportunist.
In some ways it’s rather sad what has happened to Argentina. Before the Second World War, it was much higher up the league of prosperity, than it is now. It just shows how bad government can ruin a country.
The Anonymous Widower 