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"Last Shop in Europe. Much Cheapness!" ran a tattered sign above the entrance to a tacky souvenir store-cum-cafe at the very edge of Europa Point in Gibraltar - the only place in Europe, from where in good weather one can see the coast of Africa eleven miles away.

And although "much cheapness" proved to be a cheap hoax - a plain "Much Cheapness T-shirt” in the shop cost over 10 pounds - it was indeed the "last shop in Europe", if only geographically.

The early history of the Rock of Gibraltar, which until 1492 was "officially" considered the End of the World, resembles the layers of a puff-pastry pie. It was the Moors who first settled on the Rock after invading Spain in the eighth century under the command of Tarik Ibn Zeyad. The name "Gibraltar" is a corruption of the Arabic words "Jebel Tarik" - Tarik's mountain. From then on the Rock was constantly under siege: the Spanish besieging the Moors, the Moors besieging the Spanish, the British besieging the Spanish and the Spanish besieging the British. Gibraltar stayed under Moorish control until 1309, then under Spanish control until 1333, once again Moorish until 1462 and once again Spanish until 1704. In 1704 a joint Anglo-Dutch force captured the Rock, and the Treaty of Utrecht ceded the territory to Britain in 1713. In all Gibraltar survived fourteen sieges, the last and longest being the Great Siege of 1779-1783. It was changing hands like a relay baton in a two-team marathon until it reached its present-day dubious status - caught between the Rock and the hard place in the ongoing dispute between Britain and Spain.

At present, passions in this fairly childish brawl are running high, and Spanish frontier guards are falling over themselves to make Gibraltarians' access to the neighbouring Spanish town of La Linea as difficult as possible. My Gibraltarian guide Pepe told me that Spanish Customs are likely to fine a Gibraltarian motorist trying to cross the border if he or she doesn't carry any of the following items: 1.A blanket. 2.A pair of gloves. 3.A spare pair of glasses in case the main pair gets damaged in an accident.

Some time ago, one Spanish columnist went so far as to call Bienvenida Sokolow, a stunning Spanish courtesan of Russian origins who made headlines in Britain after her clandestine affair with Sir Peter Harding, a top British Defence Ministry official, "our revenge for Gibraltar". It only takes a quick look at Bienvenida's photo to understand why revenge can sometimes be so sweet…

Modern Gibraltar suffers from congestion. It is seriously overpopulated: high-rise human beehives, the airport's lone runway doubling as a highway - when a plane is about to land, they simply halt the traffic - give it the air of Hong Kong or Macau. The Rock itself adds to the colony's claustrophobia, only slightly relieved by breathtaking sea-views from almost anywhere in Gibraltar. Its sinister presence is felt everywhere, hanging above your head day and night like the Sword of Damocles. The authorities are trying to tackle overpopulation by building new spacious apartment blocks and impressive modernistic structures, like the new cruise-ship terminal. The locals whose travel outside the protectorate is severely restricted by the Mediterranean from one side and by the Spanish frontier from the other, seem to find a temporary escape from claustrophobia in careering along the town's steep and narrow lanes in their cars, with powerful ghetto blasters turned to full volume. This explains the large number of people with their limbs in plaster in the streets of Gibraltar, a country which can be crossed by car in ten minutes - the duration of a couple of rock songs, so to speak.

And yet, Gibraltar is charming. It is definitely the place where, contrary to Kipling's prediction, East and West meet. Its narrow lanes, revolving around the Main Street hub, with their Regency houses and Moorish courtyards; its gardens and fountains, ancient churches and mosques, its clay and mud brick huts, and colourful clothes put out to dry on tiny colonial balconies. All these add up to an exciting blend of cultures and traditions that are held together by the Rock. Gibraltar is simultaneously African and European, Spanish and Arabic, Jewish and Moroccan. With people of forty-four nationalities living here, it is cosmopolitan to the extreme.

Gibraltar has no clear-cut identity. It reminded me of myself…

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