Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera is located 119 km southeast of Ceuta. It was a natural island in the Alboran Sea until 1930, when a huge thunderstorm washed large quantities of sand into the short channel between the island and the African continent. The island became a peninsula, connected to the Moroccan coast by an 81 m long sandy isthmus, which is the world’s shortest single land-border. With a length of 400 m northwest-southeast and a width of up to 100 m, it covers about 1.9 ha.
The Spanish have occupied this territory since 1508, losing it between 1522 and 1564 to Morocco. In 1871, the Spanish Congress debated abandoning the Peñón, since by that time it had lost its military role, but in the end the proposal was dropped.
On the morning of 29 August 2012 seven Moroccan activists from the Committee for the Liberation of Ceuta and Melilla placed flags of Morocco on the rock. Spanish soldiers arrested four of the activists while the other three evaded capture. It is now administered by Spain as part of one of the plazas de soberanía, and its sovereignty is disputed by Morocco. I visited this point as part of the IBRG SPEGEX-22 trip.
The plazas de soberanía (places of sovereignty) are divided into 2 groups, major which includes Ceuta and Melilla, and minor that includes the rest that are mainly little islands and this one which is a peninsula. They include (west to east) Perejil Island, Peñón de la Gomera, the Alhucemas Islands, Alboran Island and small islote de La Nube and finally the Chafarinas Islands.
Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera is currently a military base administered directly from Spain and resupplied via helipads on the fort. Access to Bades, the Moroccan village adjacent to the fort is straightforward, with a narrow road from Rouadi 28km away.
The whole area was fascinating and in November 2022 the Moroccan fishing village was very quiet with only young military conscripts at the local military base evident. Perhaps in the summer it is busier and the restaurants are open then.
The fort
On the day of our visit no Spanish military personnel were visible. The fort itself was impressive, towering over the beach and the small Moroccan village.
For me the fort details were fascinating, the chapel at the top of the hill, the military insignia, the communication arrays, the different levels. No personnel visible during our visit at all. In the past Spanish soldiers bought fish from the village and played football with the children in the village. No longer however since the problems at Perejil Island
The Border – the shortest in the world
Fans of geo-trivia may be interested in locating the world’s shortest land border between sovereign states. Normally you would start by excluding Monaco, Andorra, the Vatican, and Gibraltar before finally rejecting the 150m Botswana and Zambia border between the 2 tripoints in the Zambezi River, BWNAZM and BWZMZW. We are now left with the border here, which is often noted as 85m long, when we walked it we thought it was shorter at 81m. Some people reject the worlds shortest border classification as this border is part of a longer Morocco – Spain border which consists of three non-contiguous lines totalling 18.5 km. For me, this is the shortest and perhaps coolest border in the world.
In sharp contrast the border at Ceuta this one is marked by a simple blue rope. The Moroccan border guards warned us not to cross and we didn’t. On the Spanish side of the border there were 2 military boats, a Volleyball court and a Helipad.
On the Moroccan side were the local fishing boats and a single hut where the young recruits sheltered from the sun. The atmosphere was very relaxed and there was no restrictions on photography.
Bades – the Moroccan village
We visited in November which was definitely out of season, a small fishing village with a couple of restaurants and an obvious military presence. Not a lot to see or do.
Video
Date of Visit: 04 November 2022
Barry's Borderpoints 
The blue rope and pickets at Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera is one of the more unusual ways of marking the border. What are the sanctions if someone does go across the blue rope?
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There are Moroccan border guards who warn you (young lads who are bored.) I imagine that the Spanish military would not be impressed.
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