Walks Through History’s Siege Tunnel Tour a success with children and parents alike

By Neve Clinton

The Gibraltar National Museum’s Walks Through History took children on a tour to explore the 18th century Great Siege Tunnels, as part of the GSLA summer sports and leisure programme.

The walk was led by Senior Guide Phil Smith, with the 8 to 12-year-olds enjoying an educational tour, teaching them all about how the tunnels were built as well as the military strategies employed to keep Gibraltar safe under siege.

Giovanni Sisarello, age 11, said he learnt “a bit about the tunnels. I think it was really fun, I learnt where they store the gunpowder, a bit about different cannons, all round it was very very good”, and the highlight for him was seeing the Notch with all the cannon facing in different directions.

For eight-year-old Tamar Ben Mordechai, the highlight of the Walks Through History, has been that “besides Phil telling us, you could also see it with your own eyes”, making it an interactive learning experience.

On the Siege Tunnel tour, Tamar learnt “how the Great Siege worked and how the people worked to defend themselves and getting ideas how they could protect [the Rock]”, adding that she would “totally” recommend the tour to others.

Her mother, Hagit Ben Mordechai, added “this is a brilliant initiative for kids to learn the history of the place. I love it, [when] they offer it like this I think everyone must come.”

Stella Celeste Fernandez, age 11, learnt that “with the cannons, they had to put these curtains and dampen them so all of the sparks wouldn’t come out, that was really interesting”, adding that the highlight for her was the relief mural at the entrance of the tunnel of General Eliott’s face “with the massive nose, I find that really funny”.

She said she would definitely recommend the Siege Tunnels to others, and also said she was looking forward to the following week’s Walk Through History at the Museum, because “I haven’t been to the Museum with a guide yet.”

Nine-year-old Annie Medici-Serfaty said the highlight of the tour for her was “walking to see the views” from the north side of the Rock.

She added that she would recommend this tour to others, including tourists, because “it shows how Gibraltar works”.

Her brother Rafi, age 12, said an interesting fact he learned was that “the tunnels were repurposed in WWII”, which was impressive to him because “the fact that they managed to dig the tunnels so well that they could last until now is very interesting, because they didn’t have advanced mining technology.”

The best part of the tour for him was “when they were showing the gunpowder stores, and all the protection used for the gunpowder stores. It was interesting to learn all the precautions they had to take for the gunpowder not to explode”, adding that he would recommend it because “it’s interesting and you learn a lot from the experience”.