Ceuta & Gibraltar
Gibraltar. May 1891.
No prints or negatives have survived depicting the visit to Ceuta, yet Emily Sibley Watson gave a vivid picture on the last page of the Camping in Moroccco manuscript:
“In the evening we reached Ceuta, the Spanish Gibraltar, a strongly fortified town, whose cannon challenge Gibraltar’s. We found that suddenly we had left the East behind as with all its mystery and enchantment, and were back in picturesque Spain again. The church bells were ringing and all the City was “en fête” for the feast of Corpus Christi. Colored lanterns were hung across the streets, bands were playing and crowds of people every where, the women in their bright colored skirts and with mantillas on their heads; It was indeed a different world from that in which we had been living for the last ten days.”
Ceuta was and is a Spanish possession, as Gibraltar, on the opposite side of the strait of Gibraltar, was British, hence the cannon challenging each other. In the late 19th century, the two countries were at peace, with ships regularly plying the straits.
Emily & James Sibley Watson took a ferry from Ceuta to Gibraltar and from there sailed to Malaga, and then took a train to Granada.