JOSH GATES: The Rock of Gibraltar is the ultimate defensive location,
but you'll never believe what's inside.
While Colombian drug lord
Pablo Escobar's secluded hideaway
rises from the ashes.
And when an entire population was driven off their land,
they found safety in Lake Titicaca
where they walk on water.
I'm Josh Gates.
I've traveled millions of miles
and explored over 100 countries.
Lost city, here I come.
And my favorite destinations
have epic tales to tell.
These are the stories
and the secrets
of those legendary locations.
There's a saying -- solid as the Rock of Gibraltar.
It means something is stable, safe, and secure.
But the real Rock of Gibraltar, which sits
at the southern tip of Spain, across a narrow strait
from Morocco, isn't solid at all.
Hidden inside is a labyrinth of top-secret tunnels,
and I'll bet you a million dollars you can't guess
what else is down there.
Welcome to the Rock.
♪♪
[ Beeping noises ]
♪♪
At the eastern shore of the seaside town of Gibraltar,
the Rock of Gibraltar towers 1,400 feet
above the Mediterranean.
From here, enemies can be spotted approaching
from miles away, giving this legendary location
a tactical advantage that's been used
by everyone from Neanderthals and Romans
to Muslims and Moors.
And since the early 18th century,
this stone citadel has been a vital military outpost
controlled by the British.
But this rock's role in shaping history
isn't the coolest thing about it.
The best past is what's inside --
34 miles of tunnels.
The British began digging the tunnels more than 200 years ago
to fight off attacks on their crucial military outposts.
But excavation really kicked into high gear
during World War II...
[ Drilling noises ]
when the area was under threat of invasion from the Nazis.
The Brits built the bunker to end all bunkers,
designed for 16,000 troops to last 9 months
without needing to be resupplied,
and while there's no threat to Gibraltar today,
the Rock is strictly off-limits to outsiders
unless you've got a man on the inside,
like Tito Vallejo.
VALLEJO: Remember that these places are not for the public,
and as you can see on the doors, we have the signs, "Keep Out."
So follow me.
[ Heavy footsteps ]
[ Creaking noises ]
[ Heavy footsteps ]
We are on the longest road we have in Gibraltar.
It goes from one end of Gibraltar to the other,
so we can safely say it's about 3 and 1/2 miles long,
and we have the name the Great North Road
in memory of the Great North Road that's in England.
GATES: From this central artery,
tunnels radiate out in different directions,
a subterranean maze
protected by enough rock to withstand a nuclear blast.
And I remember many years ago,
I was given the task by the military, actually,
and they said, "Do you think we could stick
"the whole population of Gibraltar in here
"in case of a nuclear war
or an accident or something like that," and I said,
"Not only can we stick the whole of the Gibraltar population in here,
but our neighbors in Spain, as well, in La Linea."
GATES: That would mean
there'd be tens of thousands of people down here.
Today, most of these tunnels are eerily quiet
unless you know where the action is.
That's because parts of this doomsday bomb shelter
are now a training facility for Britain's elite forces.
WHITAKER: Today what we're doing is a tunnel warfare package.
We've currently got 30 troops in here exercising at the moment.
Well, obviously, having the tunnels on our doorstep's
a great training asset to us.
[ Tense music ]
♪♪
[ Popping noises ]
GATES: These soldiers will soon be deploying for active duty
in places like Afghanistan.
They're learning to operate in cramped conditions
with little to no light.
Although these may not look like the hallowed halls of West Point,
these recruits are working in the same tunnels
that hosted one of the greatest military leaders of all time.
[ Light footsteps ]
Deep in the bowels of Gibraltar,
Tito enters a fortress within the fortress,
and at the center of this labyrinth,
a room that was instrumental in securing an Allied
victory in World War II.
♪♪
From right here, General Eisenhower
commanded Operation Torch, a coordinated
U.S. and British invasion that drove Nazi forces
out of Africa.
Eisenhower spent 21 days stuck in a hole
inside the Rock, but if it hadn't been
for Gibraltar, they would not have been able to plan
Operation Torch.
These things are like walking into a time machine.
GATES: The Rock's strategic importance continued
after the war when Gibraltar became a base for NATO.
During the Cold War, this room monitored threats
around the globe -- bikini was a word selected
randomly by a computer referring to a specific state of alert.
And while a red bikini may be on point at the beach,
in here, it's really bad news.
These days, with the fear
of nuclear annihilation on the backburner --
well, sort of -- the tunnels of Gibraltar
have taken on a more 21st-century security mission.
Inside the Rock, there's a high security area
that even Tito can't get us into,
so he meets up with someone who can.
Hidden behind these stone walls is a network of secret rooms
responsible for safekeeping something worth billions
of dollars -- your dollars.
GATES: At the southwestern tip of Europe
on the Iberian Peninsula, the Rock of Gibraltar
has played a key role in history,
but the Rock's current purpose is decidedly futuristic.
Now, we're getting a rare look at a high-security area
and the high-stakes secrets inside.
VALLEJO: All right, all James Bond stuff.
GATES: We've all heard of the cloud --
you know, remote storage for all your important computer files.
Yeah, I don't really get how it works, either,
but that's why I'm here with my cool globe,
and the data security specialist is in the high-tech
server room 1,500 feet inside the Rock of Gibraltar.
GARCIA: This is possibly
one of the most secure data centers in the world,
protected by uninterruptible power supplies,
standby generators, and we duplicate all critical servers,
so if one of them goes, the other one will take up automatically.
So what companies or type of people
use this sort of thing?
A good 90, 95 percent of our business
deals with online gaming companies.
[ Game machine dinging ]
GATES: That's right.
This storied fortress that has repelled armies
and hosted General Eisenhower
is now hosting data from lotteries,
fantasy football, and online casinos,
and considering this is a multi-billion-dollar industry,
there's no place more secure
than the Rock of Gibraltar.
Nearly 5,000 miles across the Atlantic
in Colombia, there's a villa
that was once also known for its security,
a posh, peaceful, and protective sanctuary
belonging to someone who probably needed
to get away from it all... a lot --
international drug kingpin, Pablo Escobar.
This location is legendary for its decadence
and its downfall, but today,
the property has a surprising second lease on life.
[ Beeping noises ]
♪♪
Colombia, 1993.
Pablo Escobar is the king of cocaine
and the tenth richest man in the world.
But one spring day,
his enemies get their revenge.
Vigilantes calling themselves Los Pepes,
short for the people persecuted by Pablo Escobar,
sneak into his luxury estate and plant a bomb
in the bathroom.
[ Ticking noise ]
[ Explosion blasts ]
The explosion alerts police, destroys the villa,
and heralds the beginning of the end
for the boss of the Medellin Cartel.
La Manuela becomes Escobar's last resort,
because he's forced to spend the rest of his life
on the run -- he is gunned down eight months later,
bringing his reign of terror to an end.
Two hours from bustling Medellin, Colombia,
in the peaceful town of Guatape,
stand the ruins of La Manuela,
Named after Escobar's daughter, this crumbling hacienda
was once an opulent pleasure palace
with a staff of 300 catering to el jefe's every whim.
Some of that staff never left.
William, Pablo's ex-head of security,
still maintains the property... or what's left of it.
[ Speaking foreign language ]
TRANSLATOR: Pablo was very involved in the construction
of this place for his family.
I am going to take you through the house,
and even though it's destroyed from the bombing,
you will be able to imagine how beautiful it was.
♪♪
We are now entering the living room.
This is the little girl's room, Manuela.
Pablo's mom would stay here,
and his wife's mother would stay in this other room.
The construction crew that worked here for Pablo
were paid very well because of all the details and changes.
[ Speaking foreign language ]
TRANSLATOR: This is Pablo's room.
GATES: Spanning 20 acres in its heyday,
La Manuela's manicured grounds boasted pools,
tennis courts, a soccer field,
and, of course, guard towers.
You know, all the amenities that $20 billion a year
in drug money can buy.
♪♪
[ Speaking foreign language ]
TRANSLATOR: This area was a very special place.
This was where Pablo and his associates would gather and talk business.
GATES: At the height of his empire,
Escobar was responsible for an estimated 80 percent
of the cocaine smuggled into the United States.
His ruthless cartel turned Colombia
into the murder capital of the world.
Still, some see him as a Robin Hood figure,
the patron who provided for their neighborhoods
and families when the government didn't.
[ Speaking foreign language ]
TRANSLATOR: For a lot of people in town,
he bought their trust and was very special to them.
[ Speaking foreign language ]
TRANSLATOR: He gave away food and gifts to the impoverished.
[ Speaking foreign language ]
TRANSLATOR: I will never forget what Pablo did for the people he cared about.
[ Speaking foreign language ]
But it turns out that William isn't the only Escobar lieutenant
that's back at his old stomping grounds.
Pablo's top enforcer has returned
to help revive La Manuela,
and he can't help but relive some of the old memories.
GATES: Among the ruins of Pablo Escobar's legendary
bombed-out hideaway of La Manuela,
two of the drug lord's former associates
show off the property and remember the old days,
both the good and the bad.
[ Speaking foreign language ] TRANSLATOR: They call me "Popeye."
I was Pablo Escobar's most trusted hitman.
I have just served 23 years in one of the most difficult
prisons of the Republic of Colombia.
Pablo is a man who has people that faithfully love him
and people who truly hate him, no middle ground.
He was a good friend and a good enemy.
[ Speaking foreign language ]
TRANSLATOR: There are four things that Pablo loved --
El poder . power,
La guerra . war,
Las mujeres . women,
Y fútbol. and football.
This field is where he trained.
He ran from one end to the other,
and people thought, "Why does he run so much?"
He was training for escaping when the military operations
would come to get him.
I miss him, but I know that if
he were alive, we would probably be at war again,
because he was a warrior, and warriors live for war.
GATES: With the dark days of Escobar's empire in their rearview,
William and Popeye have opened the property to visitors
for an immersive look into this tragic period
from Colombia's history.
There's a saying -- those who cannot
remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
Well, at La Manuela, where history is being
reclaimed and reinvented,
the past is never out of sight
or out of mind.
Sixteen-hundred miles to the south,
on the eastern edge of Peru is another place
that's the epitome of resilience and refuge,
populated by a group of people who truly understand
what it means to sink or swim.
[ Heavy footsteps ]
[ Beeping noises ]
♪♪
Lake Titicaca is South America's largest
freshwater lake.
And at an altitude of 12,500 feet,
it's also the world's highest navigable lake,
whether by speedboat or reed boat.
That's right, reed boat.
If you spot one of these bad boys cruising around Titicaca,
try following it home.
You'll be transported to a place unlike anywhere else on Earth.
That's because technically it's not connected
to the Earth at all.
♪♪
These are the floating islands of Lake Titicaca,
about 100 in all.
They're made almost entirely of reeds
and were built 500 years ago by an indigenous group
called the Uros.
After living on the mainland for centuries,
the Uros stood in the way of the growing
and seemingly unstoppable Incan Empire.
[ Distant shouting ]
GATES: Facing off against one of the mightiest
civilizations in the Americas,
you might think the Uros were wiped off the Earth,
and in a way, you'd be right,
because with no land left to live on,
they turned to the water and built a floating kingdom
where, remarkably, they still live today.
♪♪
Thank you.
Hi, how are you? Where's Cristina?
[ Speaking foreign language ] Okay, thank you.
GATES: This is Paola Gosalvez,
a local mainland resident who's been fascinated
with these islands for years and who's become a regular
on one island 15 minutes from shore called Khantati.
Walking this island feels like walking on a mattress.
I think that's why most of the people walk barefoot here.
GATES: Every month or so, Paola visits Khantati's
chief, Cristina, to help with various projects.
[ Speaking foreign language ]
GATES: And today, Cristina's got big plans.
[ Speaking foreign language ]
GATES: First, to fortify and expand her island,
and second, to make an important delivery to another island
much farther from shore.
♪♪
GOSALVEZ: Right now, they're trying to make this island
a little bigger by attaching this reed platform.
GATES: It's a complex process.
Islanders slash the reeds then load them up
on reed-built boats -- they paddle them
back to the island, and finally, they stack them
in a very precise and methodical way.
♪♪
Of course, it's not just the ground floor that's built
of reeds here -- they're used to build everything
from houses, restaurants, and bridges
to umbrellas, swings, and whatever this is.
Sure, the islands have started to attract tourists,
but given the Uros' people's centuries-long struggle
with poverty, Cristina believes the revenue is worth it,
and with the help of people like Paola,
they're working hard to ensure a rising tide
lifts all reed boats.
GOSALVEZ: So I brought some groceries to take
to Cristina's grandmother
because they don't have another way of getting groceries.
♪♪
GATES: Cristina's grandmother lives in what's called
the Outer Islands, smaller islands much farther
from the mainland that see no tourists
and have far less access to food or anything else for that matter.
[ Thunder crashes ]
Getting there will be quite a journey,
because as beautiful as Lake Titicaca is...
it can also be brutal.
GATES: On the edge of South America's Lake Titicaca,
an ancient people live on manmade islands
built entirely of reeds.
[ Thunder crashes ]
And now, a mainland resident and her friend,
an island chief, are delivering food
to perhaps the most remote island of all.
[ Speaking foreign language ] TRANSLATOR: It's very important to help them.
Unfortunately, this is the only way we can get there.
GATES: As Paola and Cristina push on toward
what locals call the Outer Islands,
storm clouds roll in, and lightning touches down.
[ Thunder crashes ]
[ Tense music ]
♪♪
But thankfully, the weather blows over.
And soon, Paola and Cristina arrive safely
at their destination.
GOSALVES: We have ride on the boat for two hours
to bring some groceries to Cristina's family.
Buenos dias .
GATES: Today, Paola and Cristina have brought plenty of food
to the proverbial table -- carrots, onions, potatoes.
They all go well with the only sources of food that can be found out here --
fish and, you guessed it, reeds.
This is called chullo , which is...
[ Speaking foreign language ]
So you take the reed off the lake,
and this white part is edible. [ Speaking foreign language ]
Mm, it's kind of sweet
like a -- like a raw potato.
♪♪
GATES: As four generations of Uros gather for the meal,
Paola marvels at the community that Cristina
has helped maintain.
They managed to survive and keep their traditions
over the years, so they have found a good balance, I think.
♪♪
GATES: It can be said that legendary locations
are windows into the past that help safeguard our future.
Some places act as refuge
to protect our fragile cultural heritage
while others stand firm, protecting what we prize.
And then there are those that serve as a stark warning
about our darkest ambitions.
I'm Josh Gates.
Travel adventurously, and join me next time
as we explore more legendary locations.