The Rain In Spain Doesn’t Just Stay Mainly In The Plain

Eliza Doolittle was wrong.  Dead wrong.  Thankfully I had the forethought to pack a brolly, we had a spare one in the villa and the in-laws had their own dollar store rain capes with them.  It turns out they all came in handy.  Costa del Sol, my ass.

Our day in Ronda was plagued by intermittent, torrential downpours.  Aside from chilling us to the bone and making taking photographs frustrating, to say the least, the rain was replenishing the natural reservoirs that were reaching dangerously low levels.  See the good (thanks for this reminder, BM).

After a harrowing, two hour drive through the mountains along steep precipices, around hairpin turns and down narrow roads barely wide enough to accommodate our tour bus, we arrived at the Ronda bus station and disembarked to begin our walking tour through the rain-soaked town.


Our multilingual tour guide (English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch) did a fantastic job of showing us the highlights of this 1300 year old city that spans across a gorge whose depth is reminiscent of landscapes seen in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies.  The fog obscuring the bottom of the gorge made for a very unsettling feeling in the pit of my stomach.  I stayed a safe distance away from the edge of the bridge and the lookout points.  Mr. U is far more intrepid than I and he managed to capture some breathtaking images of the empty spaces below. *shudder*  I believe my nickname for the day was “you big chicken pants”.  Charming

the drop continues on and on and on and on and on... you get the picture

The old part of town is known as the “Arab” side as settlers came from the North African peninsula in the year 711, climbed the mountain and conquered what was then the city.  Originally a Roman settlement, the Moors took over and ruled for many years until eventually the Spaniards reclaimed the space and Ronda became the property of Spain once again.  The half of the city on the other side of the gorge is known as the “New City”.  Both parts of the city offer breathtaking views of the gorge and the valley below.

I couldn't imagine being a labourer on these building projects.

olive trees, cork trees and asparagus fields

as close as I was willing to get to the edge

recently renovated properties on the Arab side

Roman base with Moorish minaret turned into a Catholic church

we had a wine tasting here

500€ fine for allowing squirrel cats to sit on three-pronged surfaces?  I'm confused.

Ronda is also home to the oldest bullring in the country.  Once a year they hold an official bullfight attended by His Majesty Juan Carlos I, the King of Spain.  Tickets range from 80€ three weeks before the fight up to 3000€ the week before the fight.

One of Spain’s most famous bullfighters, Cayetano Ordóñez - Niño de la Palma, hails from Ronda.  Hemingway modeled the character of Pedro Romero after Ordóñez in his novel The Sun Also Rises.

 

The cost of a bullfight is very high - 150,000.00€/matador and 50,000.00€/bull.

Royal box

 > 500 kg the bull moves too slowly; < 500kg the bull moves too quickly

the bulls enter the ring here

the bulls exit the ring here

Our day in Ronda came to a close after a wonderful lunch at Don Miguel restaurant which is built into the side of the precipice, overlooking the gorge.  As we were rained out, we had to satisfy ourselves with a window seat inside instead of a patio seat outdoors.  (Secretly I was fine with that.)

the view of restaurant Don Miguel nestled into the side of the gorge as seen from the Arab side