JUST when you thought the contentious relations between the English and the Spanish was decisively resolved when the fledgling British Navy defeated the invincible Spanish Armada during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England and King Phillip II of Spain in the 1500s - think again.
On the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula and sharing its northern border with the province of Cadiz in Andalusia, Spain is Gibraltar.
Barely 2.6 square miles in area and strategically positioned at the entrance of the Mediterranean, this sliver of land seemed to have opened old wounds and revived animosity between rivals of the Old World once more.
Fought not though with muskets, canons and wooden ships, but with diplomatic claims through referendums, Spain has asserted and lost its claim to the territory as recent as 2006. It seems that deeper wounds really do take longer to heal as it tried doing so, in vain, decades earlier in 1967.
Consequently, Gibraltar's constitution of 2006 has conveniently placed it under the responsibility of the government of the United Kingdom despite having been ceded 'in perpetuity' to Britain in 1713 through the Treaty of Utrecht. So much with Anglo-Spanish territorial melodrama as Phillip II's armada misfortune seems to continuously haunt his modern predecessors. The Spanish can never seem to get a break, do they?
But while the powers that be governing Spain and the United Kingdom seem to love nurturing old wounds, the locals of these beautiful piece of land mostly interchanging speaking in both English and Spanish in a most charming sing song kind of a way seem to shrug off all the political shenanigans and bask instead on the symphony of natural and man-made gifts Gibraltar has to offer.
The monolithic limestone promontory 426 meters high, the Rock of Gibraltar is the undisputed landmark. Seen from Morocco in Africa on a clear day, this natural anomaly welcomes voyagers from the Atlantic into the Mediterranean.
St. Michael's Cave located halfway up the western slope of the Rock is a network of limestone caves in the upper Rock Natural Reserve sits snugly 300 meters above sea level. Interestingly, the cavern's acoustic dimensions are good enough that concerts are constantly being staged in there.
At the end of the Rock is Europa Point where the most beautiful lighthouse I have ever seen is housed. Twenty meters wide, painted white with a wild, bold red band in the middle, this lighthouse of lighthouses is postcard-perfect.
At the foot of the Rock, there is Catalan Bay - a small bay and fishing village the Spanish calls the "La Caleta." Located on the eastern side of the Rock, this piece of beach gets really crowded during summer months as locals and foreigners alike cool themselves down as they escape the hot European heat. Lined with pastel-colored houses and apartments, it seemed like the charming Italian beach town of Portofino had been transported eastward. It was breathtakingly beautiful.
And don't forget the Barbary macaques - the camera hogging monkeys who can be seen everywhere mingling with locals and tourist alike without a care whether they are English, Spanish or something else. Maybe the old world rivals should learn from our distant cousins by toning down on being too proud, be less provincial and more universal, more pragmatic by being more inclusive and politically blind. I am pretty sure Queen Elizabeth and King Phillip wouldn't mind burying the hatchet once and for all.