Gibraltar is a tiny U.K. peninsula at the bottom of Spain. It's only 3 miles long and 1 mile wide but that is plenty big enough to search if you lose your purse including the passports for 6 people.Started off at Gibraltar where everyone with 4 kids would start; at Pizza Hut. After a quick bite we snagged a tour van to take us to the rock. The rock of Gibraltar is a small mountain with extremely narrow roads allowing one vehicle to angle and writhe its way to the top. Once at the top, I noticed I had the backpack containing everyone's spare sweaters, water bottles, the cameras but *yikes* my purse was gone!
There was no way to return to the bottom of the Rock from this point, we had no choice but to push on with the rest of our group for the remaining 90 minute ride.
On the Rock of Gibraltar you can visit famous caves, tunnels and catch a glimpse of the Barbary Apes.
The apes are cute but they're thieves who will quickly relieve you of your belongings. Had they stolen my purse?Luckily, we had Peter. A tour guide who loved a challenge. Every time we stopped for a photo opp, he called around and used his resources to try and track down my bag. However, by the time we reached the end of our route we had no choice but to make our way to the police station (that looked a lot like a small drive thru). The police had good news, a cabby had found my purse and called it in! He'd discovered my purse at Pizza Hut. The bad news, this cabby was notoriously known to be difficult to get hold of and going off on his own as he was a retired cop who only worked part-time.
Although the Gibraltar police had given up doing more thank taking my statement and moving on, the wonderful Peter was on the case and he used all his connections to track down the cabby/ex-cop and arranged for him to meet us. All in all, everything turned out wonderfully thanks to Peter and St. Anthony (patron saint of lost things who received many prayers).
Onward to Cannes then Italy.
5 comments:
I found your blog by chance. At the top it reads you are a mystery writer. When I was reading about your lost purse I thought it was a preview of your newest book. Then I decided that you must be on a trip and it really happened. I have been to Gibraltar and can just picture it!
Judy
Oh, Wendy, how terrible that must have been while you didn't know if it was stolen or not, especially in a foreign country! Sounds like you had all the right folks on your side, especially St. Anthony! :-)
Wow, what an adventure I would have been totally stressed if my purse had gone missing. It's great to know that so many people were coming to help you and that things worked out in the end. It is kind of like a very twisted fairy tale.
Talk about a stressful day. Hope the rest of your trip is less troublesome!!
Glad it all worked out! If you can subtract the stress of it all, wasn't Gibraltar fascinatin? I went there (Malaga, Gibraltar, Morocco) in '98 for 2 months - loved it. The monkeys, the caves, the history. . . the day we were there some Spaniards- in protest that the English still own Gibraltar, had taken over a fort and removed the English flag to replace it with the Spanish flag - such drama!
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