When we were visiting the Costa del Sol at the end of May, we decided to take a day-trip to RONDA. Of course, being situated so very close to the concrete jungle of the Costa del Crime, 50km or around an hour's drive, coupled with the fact that the town is stunningly scenic, means that we weren't the only ones with this in mind.
IT GETS VERY BUSY.
Never mind. It was the first full day of our holiday, so we were up at the crack of dawn (almost) and half-way there before most tour buses had even struggled out of their cosy garages.

The drive from the coast up to Ronda (770m above sea level) is through a series of steep climbs and hairpin bends along a winding mountain road which, although in good condition and reasonably wide, is still quite time-consuming, especially if you're stuck behind a slow-moving truck. It does have its compensations, however. Some of the scenery is pretty spectacular and if it's clear enough, you can see the coastline of Africa if you look behind you (not advisable when driving).
Eventually, you arrive on the plateau and level(ish) ground again.

We parked the car very close to the centre of town and strolled off to see the sights.
Ronda consists of two very distinct quarters (shouldn't that really be halves?) - the old and the new. Don't get carried away now, the 'new' quarter is mainly 18th century so 'new' is a relative term.
The two areas are divided very neatly by a gaping chasm called El Tajo through which the River Guadalevín flows. This, and the 'new' bridge that crosses the gorge is probably one of the most photographed sites in this part of the world. The views down into the gorge are breathtaking and with the buildings clinging precariously on the knife-edge of cliff, it's pretty impressive. Apparently, the views looking up from the bottom of the gorge are quite good too, but only a fool would walk all the way down just to walk all the way back up again...

Everywhere you look in the old town there is something to see. The buildings are steeped in history and literally reek of ancient times. Almost all the places worth seeing are in this part of town: churches, palaces, monuments, town hall, museums etc. and it's pretty compact so it's possible to see quite a lot in a short time. However, wander off the main north-south drag, and it becomes quite an ordeal - the streets are really steep and when the sun pokes through, the heat can make it fairly uncomfortable.

This is the only museum in Spain concerning this subject and was really quite interesting. It's not huge and can be seen in under an hour, but it was very enjoyable.
Apparently, this area was not free from bandits until the 1930's and there are lots of photographs of the last of these 'romantic' characters after they had been hunted down and, in most cases, executed.
I was amazed at the collection of books, comics and magazines that dealt with the subject - in a way, I was reminded of the legends of the American Wild West, the romantisising of what were essentially thieves, kidnappers, cut-throats and murderers.
I was a bit dubious of visiting it, thinking it would be rather sparse and tacky, but it was thoroughly enjoyable. My one quibble was that there could have been more multi-lingual explanations of the displays - only the most basic information was in English.

The 'new' town is where you'll find most of the shops, bars and restaurants. There are a few in the old town, scattered around, but these generally cater only to tourists and consequently are on the expensive side.

We stopped for a spot of lunch at one of the many pavement cafes which line the plazas and side streets. It seemed to me that the speciality in these parts was a selection of tapas as a main course with almost every restaurant and bar offering a 'tapa tipico' dish. I couldn't resist and for around € 7-8, I treated myself to all sorts of scrummy nibbles...¡Delicioso!