~~RONDA~~

ANDALUSIA

SPAIN

We have spent several winters in Benalmadena Costa in Andalusia at one of our Holiday Club resorts.

One thing that we do enjoy (well after the first time after the results of Mr Oldchem’s first driving in Spain, but that’s another story) is hiring a car and visiting places in the Andalusian Mountains.

One of the most memorable places that we have visited is the beautiful town of Ronda, which is part of the province of Malaga.

Ronda is situated 60km up a winding mountain road in the mountain range Serranía de Ronda. It stands at an altitude of 739 m and has approximately 35,000 inhabitants. The average year round temperature is 15C and it has around 2700 hours of sunshine per year.

Ronda is a town that is not that well known on the typical Spanish tourist list of places to go, but – believe me – it should be, it is a wonderful place.

We were told that Ronda gets very busy, so we set off early to beat the crowds. Actually we didn’t find it to busy at all, but then it was February!!

Ronda has two parts the old Moorish area, La Ciudad, and the "new" (circa 1485!) town, El Mercadillo, dividing these quarters is the El Tajo, the 100 plus meters deep canyon through which the River Guadalevín flows. The views down into the gorge are awe-inspiring
Spanning the gorge is the triple-arched 200-year-old stone bridge that links the old and new districts

It's this gorge and bridge, along with Ronda's acclaim as the birthplace of modern bullfighting, that have made it the most famous and spectacular of the many mountain towns that dot Andalusia.

As we stood on the old stone bridge and peered down, we were speechless at the seemingly bottomless chasm and narrow river channel, and the sheer beauty of it.

Everywhere we looked there seemed to be something to see. The buildings are all spectacular. I was pleased that we had visited in February, although the weather was beautiful, we were spared the scorching summer heat, which would have made it a very tiring visit
.
As it was we thoroughly enjoyed our amble through the maze of narrow streets, whitewashed houses, little shops and churches.
The mix of Moorish, Gothic and Renaissance architecture was a reminder of Ronda's history and all added to its charm.

In El Mercadillo, (the 'new' town) we indulged my passion for shopping and buying lots of goodies for the grandkids (I’ve nine now so it gets rather expensive!!)
There are some lovely old world shops and lots of cafes and bars.

When it comes to foreign travel I always insist on eating ‘native’, this has caused some problems in the past with language,

but we usually get by.

On our last trip to Ronda we chose a rather dingy little café in appearance but the smells and the food that was coming out smelt and looked delicious.

We decided to sit inside as it was just starting to rain a little (this is one of the wettest areas of Spain and it has high rainfall) inside it was rather like a Spanish version of the café in Last of the Summer Wine!

There was a little TV playing Spanish programmes, football photos of Barcelona on the wall next to adverts for bullfights, the café was full of locals chatting away and the menus were all in Spanish, it was a delight – far away from the ‘Wigan Bar’ and ‘Murphy’s Bar’ down on the coast!!

With my spattering of Spanish I ordered our lunch.
My husband and daughter opted for a delicious looking Andalusian chicken dish, but Jack and I went for a type of Frito Misto – a huge platter of a mix of all sorts of fish – some only centimetres small, delicious squid, along with the tentacles (that Jack always calls testicles- it started of as a mistake at the age of 5 and he has carried it on ever since!). As I wasn’t driving I was able to wash it all down with lashings of Saint Miguel - delicious.

~~HISTORY~~

Ronda is one of the oldest cities of Spain.
In fact there have been local finds to prove life there in to the Neolithic age.
It was certainly used in Roman times as n 45BC a temple was built there to commemorate the victory of Caesar over Pompey's sons, Gnaeus and Sextus.
After the fall of the Roman Empire during the 4 and 5th Centuries the town became known as Old Ronda. It remained occupied until at least the 14th Century, but with the Moors ruling this part of Spain, the favoured seat of government for the area became 'New' Ronda.
Some of the old walls, city gates, Moorish public baths and buildings are still in evident in the old quarter on the south side of Ronda.

Before the early 18th century, only one side of the gorge that divides present-day Ronda was urbanised. An old Roman bridge crossed the Guadalevin River 100 metres below the cliff face and a later 17th Century bridge made crossing the small river easier. However, in 1735 work started on spanning the top of the gorge and connecting the 2 limestone hills. After 8 months, the work to bridge the 35m wide canyon was complete, but unfortunately the design was not sound, and shortly after, the single arch collapsed into the river below, killing 50 people.
Work on the new bridge was begun in 1751, and over 40 years later it was completed, and it still stands, impressive as ever, to this day.
It is because of its long and varied history that Ronda is such a beautiful and unusual place to visit today.

~~BULL FIGHTING~~

Ronda is probably most known for the bullring and the bull fighting connections there. While I had no desire at all to watch a bull fight I really enjoyed visiting the bullring and exhibitions inside it.
The museum and exhibitions there were very interesting and I did learn a lot about the ‘art’ of bullfighting.

The history of bullfighting goes right back to the 5th Century, and was not ‘invented’, as many people believe, by Pedro Romero.

Pedro Romero is most celebrated name in the history of the bullfighting. He was, though, not the first member of his family to grace the ring. His grandfather, Francisco, born in Ronda in 1698, was a great innovator. It was he who introduced, among other things, the muleta – the stick that the matadors carry. It had become traditional for matadors to carry a short cloak over their left arms. Francisco Romero found this awkward, and draped his instead over a stick. – to become the muleta.

Francisco's son, Juan took the ‘sport’ even further, introducing many of the tools and practises still used today. Incredibly, considering his choice of profession, Juan Romero lived to be 102, and fathered four sons - Juan, Gaspar, José and – the infamous Pedro Romero.
Pedro was considered to be the first matador to truly think of the bullfight as an art and a skill in its own right, it had often been thought of more as a clowning performance.
At the age of eighty, in front of a cheering crowd he killed several bulls in Madrid, and that in his time he killed over 6000 bulls in the ring without ever being gored.
He died in Ronda on February 10th 1839 aged 85.
The plaza de toros (the bullring) in Ronda was built in 1785, just twenty years too late for Francesco Romero to ‘perform’ there, but just in time for his grandson Pedro.
The bullring is a must to see, no matter what your thoughts on bullfighting. The impressive stone-built and neo-classical building is an absolute delight to see and truly fascinating. It gives visitors, like me, who have no stomach for the actual bullfight, a chance visit the ring on its off days.
The sections open to the public, ring itself, the stables, the housing stalls for he bulls, the museum and other behind-the-scenes areas.
I was amazed at the huge size of the place, the arena is 66 metres in diameter, and is surrounded by one lane formed by two stone rings. There are rows upon row of seating, in fact there are two stories of seating, each with five raised rows, and 136 pillars that form 68 Tuscan arches.
The bullring and museum are open every day, apart from when the bullfights are held in September.

November-February - from 10.00h to 18.00h
March-April 15th - from 10.00h to 19.00h
April 16th-October - from 10.00h to 20.00h

The price of entry is 6€ adult and 4€ under 16 years old.

~~MUSEO del BANDOLERO (Museum of Bandits)~~

Another interesting museum and one for people who maybe ethically do not want to visit the bullring (although I really do recommend that you do!!) is the Museo del Bandolero.
This is the only museum of its type in Spain and is fascinating.
Bandits (or Bandolero) form part of the Andalusian folklore. They are treated like a cross between Robin Hood, Ali Baba and Dick Turpin - hated and romanticised in equal measure.
They were actually murderous cut throats that lived in caves in the mountains and emerged from their thieves’ lairs to hold up coaches and then disappeared as quickly as they had come.
These bandits were also smugglers and were part of life in the area fairly recently, well around the 1930’s, their caves are still visible in parts.
The Museum shows the background, origins & history of these bandits through documents, pictures, personal details, diaries and events covering, first hand, what happened to all the bandits who lived in the 'Serrania de Ronda'. There is also a reconstruction of a tavern of the era and also an audiovisual exposition about Bandits.
The visit took us around an hour but was very interesting; some of it was pretty hard to understand I must add, as not everything was explained in English.
The museum is open everyday, 10.00 – 9.00 and the entrance fee is adults 3€; over 65 and children 2,50€.

~~GETTING THERE~~

An easy way to visit Ronda is to take a Guided Tour of Ronda, which will take you there and back and also give you a guided tour while you are there.
There is a tour that leaves Malaga at 7.00 a m and the duration of the tour is 10 hours. The price per person for this is 38 € (with lunch included), if there are just two of you I would well recommend this.

You can also get from Malaga to Ronda by bus: Autobuses Portillo run the Malaga-Ronda service, and there is another service run by Los Amarillos as well. The journey takes around 1.45 - 2 hours and costs 9€. each way

There is also a direct train from Malaga to Ronda. The journey takes around 45 minutes and costs 20€. each way .

Of course you can, as we did drive there.
The directions from Malaga are to drive along the coast (E15), past Fuengirola and Marbella to San Pedro de Alcántara. Then take the A376 from San Pedro de Alcántara for 44km before taking the A369 to Ronda. But let me warn you that this drive from the coast up to Ronda is very hairy!! Remember Ronda is actually 739m above sea level so the journey is taking you forever upwards along a VERY winding road complete with many a hairpin bend.

I have to say though that the road is better than a lot of the mountain roads that we encountered in other parts of Andalusia, and while it can be quite slow going you have the benefits of some stunning scenery. This journey to Ronda should take around 1 - 1.5 hours, unless – like us – you get stuck behind a lorry for half the journey!!

~~IN CONCLUSION~~

When staying in the Marbella/Malaga region of Spain I would heartily recommend you take a day out of the beach and pool schedule and go up the mountains to this wonderful little town.

Here you will find true Spanish culture, history and beauty.

A word of warning though, if you do go in busier times, please get there early!!

Do take a look at my pictures