All language subtitles for BBC Mediterranean with Simon Reeve - 04 Eng

I'm on a journey around
the Mediterranean.

It's the sea that attracts
around a third of world tourism.

The birthplace of civilisations...

Just look at that!

..where extraordinary wealth...

This one's got a helicopter on it!

..meets shocking poverty.

I take my flipping hat
off to them, I really do.

Look at the scale of the
destruction!

They are on the edge of the Med.

It's a sea of wild extremes.

Yes, yes, look!

This final, fourth leg of my journey
takes me from Morocco,

up the coast of southern Spain
and on to Corsica,

and ultimately, the French Riviera.

On Europe's only desert coast...

Oh, my God!

..I discover how cheap food and
holidays

has transformed the landscape.

It's the Manhattan of Spain.

Plastic, plastic.

I think I've seen a blow, OK.

Whales, at the mouth
of the Mediterranean!

I travel to an unspoiled paradise...

I mean, the whole environment here
is just incredible.

..before ending my Mediterranean
journey on the opulent Cote d'Azur.

What's that smell?

Dirty, rotten money.

So, look, just over here....

It's the Rock of Gibraltar.

I am heading towards a fortified
port city.

A duty-free zone,
that, well, it's effectively owned

by a country across the sea,

but claimed by the nation
that surrounds it.

No, I'm not going to Gibraltar.

I'm going to Ceuta, a little bit of
Spain on the coast of north Africa.

The Spanish can get a bit het up
about what an outrage

it is that Gibraltar's British.

Yet, just 17 miles across the sea

in Africa is Spanish Ceuta,

a port city surrounded by Morocco.

This patch of land
is heavily contested.

Morocco desperately wants it.

The Spanish have campaigned
for decades to reclaim Gibraltar -

perhaps a tad hypocritical, given
they still own Ceuta.

Man in blue shirt.

Tareq!

Simon, hello!

It's all right, finish the phone
call! It's an urgent...

Urgent phone call, OK, don't worry.

So, Tareq is going to be
our guide in Ceuta.

There's around 80,000
people living here.

I think it's fair to say most people
in Europe haven't heard of Ceuta.

Have most Spanish people
heard of this place?

One key feature here dominates life,

putting it on the front line of one
of the biggest issues

around the Mediterranean.

So, this is the border,

and given that it's the line between
Africa and the European Union,

as you can imagine, there are
hundreds of thousands

of migrants and refugees
who want to come across.

This is a heavily fortified border.

Spain has several outposts
on the north African coast.

They're the only land borders

between Africa and the European
Union.

Since a new government in Italy said
it was clamping down on illegal

migration, attempts to cross
into Ceuta and into Spain

have more than quadrupled.

If they can get into Ceuta, they've
got a chance of getting

across the water into Spain,
to France, to Germany, to Europe.

In the dashboard?!

Si, si.

Can you show us what you mean?

That's incredible.

In the engine?!

Where would they fit there?
Let's have a look.

What, so you have literally found
cars with people hidden under here?

How did you feel when you saw that?

Ceuta has hardly any industry.

But VAT is lower in Ceuta.

It's a sort of duty-free port.

Warehouses here are stocked
with cheap imported goods

from the EU, ready to be
transported into Morocco.

What's going on here?

In a bizarre arrangement,
up to 4,000 Moroccan women

are allowed to cross the border,
carrying or wheeling as much

as they can by hand,
as many times as they can.

Do you know how much it would weigh?
100 kilos.

100 kilos, we think, here,
of shampoos and bath products.

Twice a week, these so-called
"mule women" cross the border.

Other days, men have a turn.

It's hideously tough,
but thousands of the poorest

have work as a result.

Meanwhile, Spanish
Ceuta profits hugely

from the sale of goods.

The ladies here, often they are
elderly and they are infirm.

This lady is wheeling stuff while
she's got a crutch,

for goodness' sake.

So, they're desperate?

Can you make enough to live on?

Can you make enough to survive?

There is a lot of hard work
and suffering as these ladies

are moving large bundles
of goods around.

But, at the same time,
many of them are saying,

"This is the only work we can get.

"If we don't do this, we go hungry."

Here, we have the absolute
reality of life for so many

around the Mediterranean.

And the reality where a wealthy
country like Spain butts up against

the relative poverty of Morocco.

There's unemployment
and poverty in Morocco,

and in the rest of the huge
continent to the south,

millions want to enter the EU.

It's why the Spanish government
has been fortifying the ring

of steel that surrounds Ceuta.

This, more than anything
I have seen anywhere, I think,

this is Fortress Europe.

Look at this system of fencing!

What is that?

Seven metres high, with razor wire
on both fences here.

It's very hard to imagine people
getting over this.

But they do.

On the other side, there are
hundreds, thousands of migrants

hidden along this border, waiting
for their chance to get across.

There is Morocco.

And that's where
I want to head to next.

But, disappointingly, Morocco
repeatedly failed to give us

permission to film my
Mediterranean journey.

I decided to cross
the border anyway,

travelling as a tourist,
swapping professional equipment

for a basic camera and smartphones.

We're hoping that if we use
a small, touristy camera

then we won't get stopped or
detained.

It's a beautiful country,
attracting more than 11 million

tourists each year.

Yet it's an authoritarian
and undemocratic state,

with a poor record on human
rights and media freedom.

There have been recent reforms,
but without filming permits,

we couldn't fully capture
the glory of this place,

or talk to people on camera
in case we got them into trouble.

It's absolutely stunning here,

and, actually, very touristy,

but there is another aspect
of life in this area

that the Moroccan government
would rather you didn't know about.

In mountains and forests close
to the Med, around the border

with Ceuta, migrants
and refugees are on the run

from the Moroccan authorities.

Tareq was helping me
track them down.

How close are we now, Tareq?

Not a lot of military around.

So we stand a chance
of not getting caught.

Well, that's... That's good!

We need to go quickly.

Migrants are in this area waiting
for a chance to get into Ceuta

or cross the Med to Spain.

Many are here illegally,
and they stay well hidden.

We can see some movement in the
bushes at the bottom of the valley.

As we headed down into the ravine,
we realised we were being watched.

WHISPERS: We need to go.

OK, we're coming up
to a little tent...tented shack.

It's so makeshift. Look at this.

Tareq thinks this is a ladder used
to climb the fences at Ceuta.

Do you think that's it? Or...

No, no. We must to see.

CANS RATTLE

I mean, we are activating it
deliberately

in the hope people are going
to come out.

A very basic alarm system
if the police...

RUSTLING IN BUSHES

We've found them.

So we've just met up with a guy, a
migrant, looks sub-Saharan African.

And we'll find out if we're allowed
to film.

THEY SPEAK IN THEIR LANGUAGE

We're in the camp.

They're letting us film.

They're worried for us about people
who are up on the hill watching.

We'll worry about that later.

Can we sit down together and talk?

Yeah, yeah, you can. Yeah?

How long have you been in the
forest?

Nine months?

Guinea?

These young lads have travelled
thousands of miles and crossed

the Sahara to get here,
close to the fence with Ceuta.

Babylon is the people of Europe, for
him.

Babylon is Europe? Yes. Yeah.
Europe is Babylon?

You made it over the fence?

Yes, the razor wire.

Do you know anybody
who has made it into Ceuta?

They've made it to Madrid?

But success stories are rare.

And even those who make it to Europe
certainly aren't guaranteed

a job or a future.

I can't be too hopeful for them,

that they're going to make
it across the border.

I've tried to avoid
giving them false hope.

It's incredibly difficult,
but they know people

who've made it over.

They know people who've made it
across the water to Europe

and have achieved
what they see as the success.

And those stories, which are often
spread now by social media,

ensure that many more young men
will up sticks across Africa

and head north towards
the promised land.

We haven't spent long with them,
but I think our time is up.

We can hear more voices coming
from the hillside opposite.

I think we need to get out of here.

God, they're saying good luck to us.

MUSIC

We've crossed the Mediterranean,
from Africa to Europe,

from Morocco to Spain,

it feels like under the watchful eye
of those lads in the forest,

who look every day at these big
ships, carrying their hopes

and their dreams across
to southern Spain.

And I just get to do it,
thanks to this little thing -

my passport.

An accident of birth.

I felt lucky to be heading
to mainland Spain across one

of the busiest shipping
lanes in the world.

The Strait of Gibraltar links
the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

It's just nine miles wide.

You can cross it in half an hour
by ferry.

Half of the world's trade and 80%
of goods and gas consumed by the EU

pass through this narrow channel.

But the Strait is home
to so much more than just tankers,

ferries and container ships.

Hello! Hello. Rocio? Hello!

And how do I say your name?
Ro-THEE-oh.

Rocio. Very nice to meet you. I'm
Simon Reeve. Very nice to meet you.

Lovely to see you. Welcome on board.
Thank you.

Rocio Espada is a Spanish marine
biologist.

She studies marine life
in the Strait of Gibraltar,

where nutrient-rich current from
the bottom of the Med

meets water flowing in from the
Atlantic,

providing ideal feeding conditions.

We have a really big biodiversity
in a very small space.

We can get more than around 1,000
dolphins in the area.

A thousand dolphins here?!

Yeah, well... That means, hopefully,
we should be able to

spot dolphins here. Yeah, hopefully.

You can't be stopped, can you?
You're already looking.

I'm all the time.

As soon as I'm in front of the sea,
I need to be looking all the time.

It's an obsession!

We've got people pointing their
fingers over here.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're making...

Look! Look at all of them!

How many are here? Looks like maybe
30? Yeah.

That is a good number.

You've got newborns on the other
side of the group as well, guys.

Oh, just racing through the water.

Yes, brights and commons,
both mixing together.

Here, guys... Oh, they're with us!

There's one there.

Now they're over here, just here.

Whoa!

The speed they move is
just incredible.

They are like torpedoes
in the water.

And then they're over there.
And then they're back.

HE LAUGHS

They're so incredibly curious
and playful.

Oh, God, there's nothing almost
I love more in the sea.

They were just here.

Look.

Mummies and babies, they hang
around, you know,

in the shallowest part of the bay.

And, well, as you see, refineries,
ports.

But, mummies and newborns.

Is this an oil refinery over here?

That's an oil refinery.

It's huge!

Massive. It's massive.

I'm just stunned that these dolphins
are having to exist in this...

It's almost like being
next to the motorway.

More than 100,000 vessels pass
through the Strait each year.

Dolphins have to run the gauntlet.

The boat here is going to go
straight into them!

They're slowing down,
I think, aren't they?

I hope so.

Sometimes, babies, you know,

they cannot dive as fast,
the baby calves,

as their mothers can do,

and it doesn't swim as fast
as the mothers can do,

so it is true that sometimes
there is collisions.

Look at this one, guys.

You got one without
a dorsal fin here.

I will show you some pictures
that we've been taking.

Yeah, love to...
Well, I say love to, but...

Rocio and her team have been
monitoring the health of the dolphin

population in the Strait.

It's not nice to see, guys, but,
uh...

So it's just had its dorsal fin
there...?

Yeah, it looks like it's gone.
It's been mutilated.

These can be related to propellers.

Oh, that's flesh.

Mm, this is very fresh, and we think
this is a fishing line.

And it's just ripped
into the fin there.

Ripped into the fin.

When they are casting and reel it in
with their pulls,

or maybe when they hook a tuna,
yeah, and the dolphin's passing,

that, you know, these things happen.

Then interactions with plastic.

We located a striped dolphin that
put its nose, or its beak,

through a ring, like the ring
that you get in the bottles.

Oh, my God.

Probably this belonged maybe to an
oil can,

because it is a little bit bigger.

This animal died because of
starvation.

Because it stopped eating.

It was shameful, it was like
a really, really bad situation,

because we could see it, but it was
impossible to catch it.

That's horrific.

Ballena, ballena, ballena!

Llama Luisa, llama Luisa!

Llama Luisa.

What did you see?

I think I've seen a blow, OK,

in the choppy waters, and I think
I've seen actually the back

of the animal.

Yes, yes!

Whale!

There they go! There they go!

Two of them, two of them.

They're fin whales.

Look at the size of them.
It's a submarine!

This is the second-biggest
whale in the world.

The second biggest whale
on planet Earth.

Oh, my goodness!

This is...
Wow, this is really close! Look!

Whales, at the mouth of the
Mediterranean!

Looks like a mummy and a baby, guys.

We might think of the Med
as being a smaller sea,

but it's a home for giants.

The fin whale can be as
heavy as a Boeing 757.

It's one of the largest
creatures on our planet, ever.

But for how much longer?

Marine mammal numbers
are in steep decline.

Common dolphins, they reduce their
population since 1960, to 50%.

Dolphin numbers have dropped by 50%?

In the Mediterranean, yes.

One of the main problems of common
dolphins,

for example, is that all the fishing
is happening, and the animals

just don't have enough food.

The fish are disappearing.

And if it's disappearing, they have
to move to different places

or they starve. They are getting,
like, to starve.

And you can see them really, really
thin.

You can even see the ribs on them.

You're seeing starving dolphins?

We've seen a few emaciated dolphins,
yeah.

A few skinny ones, yeah.
Emaciated, really?

Yeah, emaciated.

What state is the Mediterranean in?

It needs help.
I think it needs help.

The thing is, you know,
if we turn our back to it,

everything will go.

So it's just a little bit that is
left, you know, to try to treat with

a little bit of care, you know?

I travelled up the southeastern
coast of Spain, where the landscape

becomes a beautiful
but arid wilderness.

This is actually
the driest area of Europe.

Spain is home
to Europe's only desert.

And it's a landscape that has stood
in for the Wild West

and the Middle East in movies
like Lawrence Of Arabia,

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly.

Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade.

A few miles inland from the Med,
the Tabernas Desert is Europe

at its most extreme,

where temperatures
regularly reach 50 degrees,

and just a drizzle of rain
falls every year.

You would think
nothing could grow here.

But you'd be wrong.

In Almeria, the stretch of coast
that borders the desert,

I took to the air.

Whoa!

HE LAUGHS

Oh, it's wonderful!

The sea looks absolutely stunning.

Oh, my God.

As far as the eye can see,
thousands and thousands

of acres of plastic.

Right out to the base
of the mountains,

almost touching the Mediterranean
down at the coast.

Right out as far over there
as I can see into the distance.

This is Europe's market garden.

Unless you survive on local turnips,
chances are you've eaten fruit

and veg from here, especially in the
winter.

The plastic greenhouses of Almeria
are a phenomenon,

covering the land for
more than 100 square miles.

All right,
we're coming in to land now.

Ah!

HE LAUGHS

In the 1950s and '60s,
cheap plastic sheeting

revolutionised farming here.

Suddenly, it was possible for anyone
to create a greenhouse and grow

crops quickly all year round
with lax regulation.

These greenhouses now supply much of
our favourite fruit and veg.

Stop here.

Thank you very much.

British supermarkets are some
of the farmers' biggest customers.

See, look, you can see in here,
I think these are aubergines.

Thousands and thousands of them.

This is an enormous operation,
but I'm hoping we're going

to be able to meet some of the
people who work

in these greenhouses.

Many of the workers here
are migrants.

They're believed to number
more than 50,000.

Most have come from north
and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Suleiman's from Mali.

He's been working in the
greenhouses for seven years.

Suleiman, what is this place?

It's swelteringly hot in here now,

It must be 90 degrees or so at the
moment.

It must get over 100 in here during
the height of the summer.

What are the working
conditions like here?

Have you ever had a situation

where one of the workers here
has died?

Un amigo?

Like thousands of other migrants,
Suleiman crossed the Mediterranean

illegally on a raft.

But since finding a job
in the greenhouses,

he's been allowed
to live and work here.

Suleiman rents a decrepit
four-bedroom house

he has to share with 15 other
migrant workers.

Good Lord, look at this.

Ah, so there's a shower... Si.
..room....

..with a very dodgy electrical
set-up in here. Si.

It's all they can afford,
and all that's available.

Goodness.

So, how many people use this
kitchen?

I just went to lean
on the sink here...

Si.

..and it's not actually solid. Si.

Do you actually have to pay
rent to live here?

That sounds shocking.

Have you complained
to anybody about your pay,

your working conditions,
where you're living?

I'm really... I'm really shocked.

And I'm going...

I'm sort of moving from sadness to
anger at their situation.

There's an industrial plant just
here, right next to where they live.

And then...

There is a main road.

Careful, careful.

Look, with cars zipping along.

It's not hidden deep
within the greenhouses.

This is a very visible.

It's completely scandalous.

And I think it's also shocking
that the massive international

supermarket chains are buying
their produce from here,

without checking
on the conditions of the workers.

Because if they came here,
they could see from the main road -

they don't even need to get out of
a limousine to see that people

are living here in
unacceptable conditions.

The greenhouses of Almeria have
turned some farmers here

into millionaires.

They generate well over L1 billion
for the region,

much of it earned on the backs of
the downtrodden and the desperate.

Look at.. Look at this.

This is an enormous resort,
and well-watered golf course...

..surrounded by an entire sea
of plastic.

Yards from where Suleiman's living,
it felt like a world away.

What's the dream
that still keeps you here?

Why can't it become a reality?

Just a short while ago,
I was on the other side of the sea

in a forest in Morocco talking
to a group of young lads

who are risking
their lives to get here.

What would you say to them?

Do you know anyone who has come
across and made what you might call

Is that what it is, then -

the chances of success or failure,
it's just a lottery?

One in a million?

I really think that this journey
has shown me much more of

the reality of the migration story
and crisis around the Mediterranean.

The population of Africa
is going to increase dramatically

over the next two decades,
and I expect millions and millions

of people will want and need to head
north towards the Mediterranean.

The only solution I can see
that is just and humane

is if countries to the south from
here, perhaps with outside help,

can develop their economies so
they are able to offer jobs

and purpose and hope
to their populations.

There's a very human story
behind these anonymous greenhouses.

There's also
a huge environmental impact.

Even beyond the greenhouses,

where the landscape opens
into stretches of untouched,

beautiful Mediterranean coast.

So, what we're on now,
what we're climbing up here,

this is basically a riverbed?

Exactly. A riverbed that, of course,
is dry right now

because it hasn't rained in a while.

So you can see we're just
a little distance above the sea.

Daniel Rolleri is an expert on
marine pollution

who's campaigning and fighting to
save the Med.

We can see what I call a good
example

of this new geological age...

Oh, my God.

..in which, you know,
the plastic is totally integrated

into the soil
in the different layers.

This is not just one.

This means one on top of the other.

Can you see?

You know, and it really shows the
footprint of humankind on Earth.

This is unbelievable.

This looks like plastic
used in agriculture.

This is the greenhouse plastic.
And these are the...

Are you...

Daniel, are you telling me
that when the greenhouses

change their plastic,
it's not recycled by law?

Most of the plastic are abandoned,
you know, or...

It's just cheaper to chuck it away?
Exactly.

To take it away takes time,
it takes labour.

You know, and this is cheaper,
to just leave it behind.

So this is one of the ways
for trash to reach the sea.

Here, it barely rains, but when it
does, it rains a lot - it pours.

So, all this plastic here gets
flooded out into the sea? Totally.

Yes, it's like a highway,
nonstop into the sea.

This is...

This makes me feel sick.

I feel disgusted by our systems that
enable this to be even possible.

This is completely...obscene.

This is very upsetting, and obscene.

And look at this. Do you know what
this is?

This is a tray where they have the
little plants

of tomatoes, lettuce, peppers.

So they work, planting them,
and then they throw it away.

This is very light, you know,
the wind will blow this into

the ocean and it starts like
breaking into pieces.

Have a look at this just here.

And it just breaks down, can you
see, into smaller and smaller parts.

And this will end up in the ocean,
in the sea, sooner or later.

No doubt about it.

In tiny, tiny fragments.

And this is what
the marine wildlife eat.

And that's why then plastic
is in the food chain.

The Mediterranean holds 1%
of the Earth's sea water,

but 7% of the world's microplastic
waste.

As a species,
we have positioned ourselves

outside of the environment.

When we see problems like this, we
think that,

"Well, this is an environmental
problem, I am not part of it.

"That's an environmental problem."
Mm.

Now, it's coming closer
and closer to human beings.

It's not only in the food chain.

Plastic is within tap water,
and salt.

In sea salt.

It's astonishing.

It's embarrassing. In the name
of economy, of profits,

we are doing this.

For me, you know,
it's unbelievable.

It's very embarrassing, as a
species,

we are doing this
to ourselves.

Because we are shooting on our
foot, you know?

along the coast of southern Spain.

Fishing is still a huge
industry here, and Spain

has the sea's largest fleet.

Hiya! Simon. Nice to meet you.

I caught a lift to a trawler that
had been out since dawn.

What are you doing now?

The fishermen here have signed
up to an extraordinary new scheme.

They're fishing out plastic
from the Med.

Plastic, plastic...

The plastic they collect is recycled
into top-end clothing and bags.

Bloody hell, there's loads.

Are you shocked by how much plastic
you're pulling out now?

The fishermen in the Ecoalf
project have hauled in more than

250 tonnes of plastic from
the bottom of the sea.

But it's just a fraction
of the tide of plastic

heading the other way.

An estimated 730 tonnes of plastic
waste is now entering

the Mediterranean every day.

Circling the sea was taking me to
one of the epicentres

of global tourism -

the Costa Blanca.

Just one of four million Brits alone
who make this journey every year.

How busy is the hotel?

It's fully booked. Fully booked?
Fully booked, yeah.

How many rooms do you have? 776.

Wow. OK.

OK...

The Mediterranean attracts
more than 300 million

visitors a year.

It's a third of the entire
world's tourist market.

And this resort is one
of the biggest and most successful

anywhere on the planet.

It's the Manhattan of Spain!

The grandaddy of all
package-holiday resorts.

Benidorm!

In the 1950s, this was a fishing
community of just over 1,000 people.

It's grown a bit since then.

High-rise Benidorm pulls in almost
two million visitors a year.

It's seen as a place
for tanked-up Brits,

but actually,
it's a major family resort,

particularly for the Spanish.

The beach can get a little busy,

but despite the crowds, it has a
prized blue flag for cleanliness.

I joined Rafa Peres
on his afternoon shift.

It's ironic, actually,
that I have seen so much plastic

rubbish on beaches around the
Mediterranean that are completely

unused generally by people, and we
come here,

to one of the busiest beaches
in the world,

and you're keeping it completely
spotless!

Rafa's battling to keep our
plastic out of the sea.

After China, Europe's
the second-largest producer

of plastic, creating 27 million
tonnes of plastic waste.

There's a lot of people
on the beach, are there too many?

5:30 in the morning?! Si!

Is that the English or the Germans?

No?! Seriously?

They're the most professional
about the beach...?

The competition for sunbeds is only
going to get more fierce.

In the next ten years,
tourists visiting the Med

will nearly double,
to half a billion.

Managing the hordes will be a huge
environmental challenge.

Grand resorts like this aren't
everyone's cup of tea,

but maybe they're
part of the answer.

There is an argument, actually,
that Benidorm as a resort

is more sustainable than other
resorts that Brits go to

on their holidays.

For a start, because everyone's
crammed into quite a small space,

you don't need the sort
of infrastructure that would be

required if the resort
sprawled out along the whole

of the Spanish coastline.

There's a smaller individual
footprint for tourists

who come here.

Benidorm, derided by those who'd
never touch a package holiday,

is actually held up by some experts
as a pretty good example

of sustainable mass tourism.

But with millions more heading
to the Med, it still feels

like damage limitation.

Leaving Spain, I headed to one
of the most unspoiled parts

of the whole sea.

A western corner
of the French island of Corsica.

With dramatic beaches
and soaring mountains,

nature is at the heart
of Corsica's appeal.

I've arrived into Corsica.

It's known as The Beautiful Island.

I'm coming to the end of my journey
around the Mediterranean,

but this place looks like a bit of a
treat for all of us.

Jean Marie! Salut.

Bonjour! Simon. Simon Reeve.

Permission to come aboard? Come on.

I'd come to see a unique project
led by Jean Marie Dominici,

a man on a mission
to zealously protect his patch

of the Mediterranean.

Well, look, thank you for letting us
come to visit.

This is the Scandola nature reserve.

It's a shining,
glorious Mediterranean gem.

An area without roads or buildings,

where land and sea
are at their wildest.

Where giant volcanic rock formations
create a landscape

of awe and wonder.

It's the geology that led to the
creation of the park originally,

but as a result of the creation of
the park,

it's biodiversity that has really
flourished.

Scandola is one of the most
protracted marine areas

on the planet.

In a sea where over 90% of fish
stocks are overexploited,

here, sea life finds
a rare sanctuary.

So, you're going to let us have a
swim and a dive

in the fishiest area
in the Mediterranean?

That's a hell of a treat.

Thank you.

There are nearly 200 species
of fish here,

including some that have disappeared
from elsewhere in the Mediterranean.

Whoa!

It is... It's absolutely stunning.

I mean, the whole environment here
is just incredible.

It feels as though I've stepped
back in time to an era before humans

made their mark on the planet.

It's breathtaking.

Diving at Scandola requires permits
reserved for scientists,

so Jean Marie had taken a camera
down to depths I couldn't reach

with just my lungs.

So, we've dried off,

and we've downloaded the footage
that you've shot.

Oh, look!

Bigger, bigger!

Bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger?!

No, no, no, no. About that?

But all this is only possible
with protection that Jean Marie

and his team enforce
with a rod of iron.

Protection means banning
fishing and hunting.

Watersports are banned,
and although tourists can enter

the reserve by boat,
regulations apply.

Strict regulations.

I feel really sorry for them!

They were just having a nice time.

Oh, OK, sorry, we didn't know.
You are on the boat?

Yeah, we go now.

Yeah, we're going back to the boat,
OK. Sorry.

That is the thing, isn't it?

We each feel our individual action
and behaviour isn't...

doesn't have a negative consequence.

OK.

But it's when these behaviours are
replicated, 1,000, 10,000,

a million, 7 billion times,

that's when individual human becomes
hugely destructive.

How much is this yacht worth?

This is quite the image
of privilege over here.

This is the tender for the larger
metallic blue boat over yonder.

WHISTLING

The noise echoes around, and
it disturbs wildlife that's roosting

and living in the cliffs.

He's tough!

IMITATES WHIP CRACKING
But you have to be.

A tiny area of this sea enjoys
proper protection.

Scientists say the European Union
and governments should establish

a network of marine reserves
across the Med to protect life.

This reserve does actually leave me
feeling quite...

..quite hopeful.

I think it shows that there is
a future for the Mediterranean.

Life in this sea can be protected,

it can be preserved, if there are
rules that can be followed,

a bit of inspiring leadership,
and if people get tough.

They almost have to be militant.

But then, there is hope.

Another ferry. Nearly there!

Corsica was much more beautiful
than I'd expected.

I left the island
and took a ferry north.

In front of me is
the south of France.

I'm getting very close
to the end of my journey

around the Mediterranean now.

And this feels like the right place
to finish,

because, since the time of the
Victorians and through Hollywood,

this has really defined the image
of the Mediterranean.

Merci. Au revoir.

So, I'm getting the train to Monaco.

A basic commuter train took me east,

along the French Riviera.

Perhaps more than anywhere else,
the tiny principality of Monaco

is supposed to epitomise the glamour
of the Mediterranean -

the Med as playground
of the rich and famous.

Well, this is the dream...

..for many Europeans, as well as
for tens of millions of people

on the other side of the
Mediterranean -

rich and wealthy Europe.

Of course, very few people
on either side of the sea

could afford to actually live here.

Property prices in Monaco
are the most expensive in the world,

and it's home to the highest
concentration of millionaires

and billionaires, lured -
the uncharitable might suspect -

by the prospect of zero tax.

What's that smell?

Dirty, rotten money!

Monaco.

Land of the filthy rich,
or, as one writer put it,

a sunny place for shady people.

Not that the owners of these
vehicles have done anything

wrong at all, of course.

For me, much of Monaco
is Europe at its worst.

Europe for the elite,
with the ladder pulled up

and the drawbridge closed.

It's a striking example
of in-your-face wealth,

at the other end of the scale
from many places I've seen

on my travels around this great sea.

Well, this is the end of one
of my most surprising journeys.

The Mediterranean!

From Malta to the Gaza Strip,
from Libya to Monaco...

It is a place of utter extremes.