Gibraltar

The Rock sheltered some of Europe's last Neanderthals, whose remains and tools were found in Gorham's Cave, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its name is Arabic — Jabal Tariq, "Tariq's mountain" — after the commander who landed here in 711 to launch the Muslim conquest of Iberia. Moorish and then Castilian rule followed, until an Anglo-Dutch force captured Gibraltar in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The 1713 Treaty of Utrecht ceded it to Britain "in perpetuity", and it has been British ever since.

Gibraltar withstood the Great Siege of 1779–83 and grew into a vital Royal Navy base, central to the Napoleonic Wars — Nelson's body passed through after Trafalgar — and to the Second World War, when much of the population was evacuated and the Rock was honeycombed with tunnels. From 1969 to 1985 Franco's Spain sealed the land frontier completely to pressure the territory.

Gibraltarians have voted twice, in 1967 and 2002, to reject Spanish or joint sovereignty, each time by around 99 per cent. In 2016 the territory voted 96 per cent to remain in the EU, but left with the rest of the United Kingdom; negotiations on a UK–EU treaty to keep the frontier with Spain flowing freely have continued for years.

Gibraltarians — "Llanitos" — are a distinct people of Genoese, Maltese, Portuguese, Spanish, British, Jewish, and Indian descent. They speak English officially and Llanito informally, a rapid Spanish–English code-switch peppered with words from half a dozen languages. British institutions — the pound, red pillar boxes, bobbies, pubs, and Marks & Spencer — sit on top of a Mediterranean, largely Catholic daily rhythm.

Local patriotism is strong and public. National Day on 10 September fills Casemates Square with people in red and white; the mass release of 30,000 balloons that was once its highlight ended in 2016 over concerns for marine wildlife. The religious mix is unusually broad for its size, with a long-established Sephardi Jewish community and Hindu and Muslim communities alongside the Catholic and Anglican churches.

About 32,000 people live on a densely built rock, much of it on land reclaimed from the bay. The economy runs on financial services, online gaming — many betting companies are based here — ship bunkering and repair in the busy port, and tourism, much of it day-trippers from the Costa del Sol. There is no VAT and taxes are low.

Thousands of workers, Spanish and other nationalities, commute across the frontier every day, which makes a smooth border essential to normal life. Housing is tight and expensive, and while cars are common the territory is small enough to walk across in an hour.

Gibraltarian cooking blends Genoese, Spanish, British, and North African influences. Calentita, a baked chickpea-flour flatbread, is considered the national dish and gives its name to the food festival; panissa and rosto (a baked pasta with meat sauce) are other local staples, and bollo de hornazo appears at Easter.

The pubs serve fish and chips, pies, and Sunday roasts; Spanish tapas, seafood, and tortilla are everywhere; and there is good Moroccan and Indian food. Local craft beer is brewed on the Rock, and sherry and Spanish wine come from just across the border.

The Rock itself is the attraction. The Upper Rock Nature Reserve — reached by cable car or road — takes in the Barbary macaques, the only wild monkeys in Europe; St Michael's Cave, a vast chamber used as a concert hall and a wartime hospital; the Great Siege Tunnels and the Second World War tunnels bored through the limestone; the Moorish Castle; and viewing platforms including the glass Skywalk and the Windsor suspension bridge, with O'Hara's Battery at the summit.

At the base, the pedestrianised Main Street runs through duty-free shops to Casemates Square, and the Gibraltar Museum displays a cast of the Neanderthal skull found here and the remains of Moorish baths. Europa Point at the southern tip has a lighthouse, a mosque, and a clear view across the strait to the mountains of Morocco.

The airport runway that cuts across the road into Spain is a sight in itself — traffic and pedestrians stop while aircraft land — and boat trips from the marina go out to watch the dolphins that live in the Bay of Gibraltar.