Tardis Gibraltar

Step inside the Time Machine

Additional images courtesy of HM Government of Gibraltar

Everyone can be a Time Lord in Gibraltar, where you can travel through millennia via a rock of Tardis dimensions and end up in who knows what century.

The Force is strong with the opening of two new Gibraltar attractions at both extremes of the world timeline: A UNESCO World Heritage site created around a Neanderthal cave city occupied for 100,000 years; and a futuristic Skywalk christened by Luke Skywalker of Star Wars himself.

Beam yourself back to the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar as you stand at the spot where Nelson’s body was brought ashore in a barrel of brandy. Warp to WW2 in the underground fortress where US General Dwight D. Eisenhower planned the Allied invasion of north Africa. Or party with ghosts from Hollywood’s Golden Age over a retro cocktail at the Art Deco Rock Hotel.

Every time traveller needs a transporter and the Rock is one impressive Tardis. Like Dr Who’s flying police box, and just as British, it’s much bigger than it looks on the outside.

Go figure how it fits 55 km of underground tunnels and over 200 natural caves into a land area of 6.7 km2. And that’s not counting its international airport, UEFA football stadium, World Trade Centre, University, Trinity Lighthouse, two yachting marinas, a big city park and the Med’s busiest petrol station for ships.

Some of the cruise liners and container ships look bigger than the Rock itself. With Europe’s last wild troupes of Barbary macaques sharing premium space with nearly 33,000 human citizens, you’d need Dr Who’s genius to work out how this tiny British Territory fits it all in.

Once upon a time, Gibraltar seemed to be stuck in its own 1960s time-warp, famous only for its British bobbies, red telephone boxes and quickie weddings à la John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969. But Tardis Gibraltar is multi-dimensional these days, with its own Music, Literary and Food Festivals, too. You’ll need light years to discover it all!