VERY INTERESTING PAPA: THE ROCK (GIBRALTAR)

 Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are going to 

GIBRALTAR

1. It has the only wild monkey population in the whole of Europe

You may well know that Gibraltar is home to a troop of mischievous Barbary macaques, but did you realise that it is the only wild monkey population on the whole continent?

Around 300 of the furry troublemakers, descendants of North African populations and introduced to the area by the Moors, roam the Gibraltar Nature Reserve – and occasionally pinch food from tourists’ rucksacks.

2. John Lennon and Yoko Ono got married there

The peace and love couple tied the knot in Gibraltar. Why? “It is quiet, British and friendly,” said Lennon at the time. “We tried everywhere else first. I set out to get married on the car ferry and we would have arrived in France married, but they wouldn't do it. We were no more successful with cruise ships. We tried embassies, but three weeks' residence in Germany or two weeks' in France were required.” Prince Charles and Princess Diana, meanwhile, began their honeymoon there.

3. But it has one of the highest divorce rates in the world

For every 1,000 inhabitants on Gibraltar, three marriages meet an unhappy end each year. That’s a higher rate than all but seven places on Earth (Maldives, Russia, Aruba, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and the US).

The Maldives is way out in front, with 10.97 divorces each year per 1,000 inhabitants. Why is the rate so high in the Indian Ocean idyll? Various reasons have been cited. Perhaps the most compelling is that, as in other Muslim societies, where premarital sex is taboo, many marry young, but, under the country's mixed Sharia and common law system, they can then secure a divorce relatively easily when things don't work out. Others have blamed a lack of childcare facilities combined with a rise in women entering the workforce.

4. It has the southernmost mosque in Europe

Ibrahim-al-Ibrahim Mosque was a £5-million gift from the King of Saudi Arabia and is one of the largest in a non-Muslim country. Many Gibraltarians were outraged when it was built, in 1997.

5. There’s only 29km of roads

As you’d imagine from such a titchy territory, there aren’t too many places to go for a spin. In fact, only two destinations - Tuvalu, and the Cocos Islands - possess less tarmac (based on figures found in the CIA's World Factbook). And they drive on the right over there, unlike Britain.

And as always have a chilled day from the Viking