11/24: Onward to Ronda & its Gorgeous Gorge!

After being in Granada for several days, we continued our southward journey to Ronda, one of the largest White Hill towns in Andalusia in southern Spain. It sounded especially appealing as I'd read it was one of the most spectacular, thanks to its setting straddling a gorge.

What sounded initially like an easy train ride turned out to be way more complicated when all the people in the train station were told to get on the same bus as there was something wrong with a train or the tracks. It seemed crazy, though, when some people were hoping to head north to Cordoba or Madrid and others, like us, heading southwest to Ronda.

Sorry for the weird greenish color in the photos - it's not your eyes but the bus's tinted windows! 

Everyone ended up getting dropped off at the train station in Antequaria-Santa Ana 90 minutes later. Steven and I were then told to get on another bus to Ronda after a 40 minute layover. It’s always an adventure when you don’t know where you’re going! But luckily, the bus personnel had obviously been doing this for a while and it all went quite smoothly.

I didn't think about it until I just looked at this photo again, but the white markers looked like a national cemetery rather than markers for planting trees.

A fuzzy look at one of the white hill towns we whizzed through on the bus.

I found the terrain of southeastern Spain very interesting as the landscape changed so much from high rocky hills to fertile valleys and back again.

I guess the blue sky we'd seen from the bus was just a teaser as, once we reached Ronda, it was the usual overcast weather. Oh well, it wasn't as if a little thing like threatening skies and cool temperatures was going to deter us from exploring the intriguing  town and see its famous gorge. The Plaza del Socorro was a large square with a pretty fountain, several statues, and a commanding church all surrounded by bustling cafes and restaurants.

Ronda was first settled 2600 years ago in the 6th century BC and was named Arunda by the Celts who established it. Ronda was subsequently taken over by the Phoenicians, Romans, Visigoths and Berbers.

Poor Steven - he was so, so cold that day! But he did look cute in front of the cheery, and cherry, red outline of the bull on one of the many narrow streets in Ronda built centuries ago to cater only for people - and donkeys if they were lucky. If you're wondering what was up with the bull, you'll see the town was definitely bullish on bulls!

One of Ronda's main attractions was it had the oldest bullring in Spain which we were curious to see after touring the Bullfighting Museum in Cordoba about a week earlier. The monument honored hometown son, Cayetano Ordonez, who belongs to a long line of famous bullfighters. His grandfather was a friend of Ernest Hemingway and of Orson Welles. 

In 2006, the Italian designer, Giorgio Armani, designed a 'suit of lights' for Cayetano to wear during the bullfights of the world famous 'feria goyesca' which celebrated the first matador, Pedro Romero, in his - and Cayetano's - hometown of Ronda. The following year he was on the cover of Vogue with Penelope Cruz - pretty illustrious company, don't you think? The second statue in the plaza by the bullring honored his grandfather, Antonio Ordonez.

We decided to postpone our tour of the bullring known as Real Maestranza de Caballeira de Ronda - phew, what a long name - until the next day when we had more time.

A block away in the town's Alameda de Tajo Park across the street were seriously impressive statues to Welles and Hemingway, both known for their love for Spain. Orson Welles loved Ronda so much that he asked to be buried there. Hemingway arrived in Spain in 1936 as a journalist at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. During that time, he learned to love Spain and the Spanish way of life. Speaking of Ronda, Hemingway famously said, “That is where you should go if you ever go to Spain on a honeymoon or if you ever bolt with anyone.”

Steppingstones in the park celebrated some of the town's famous bullfighters.

A garden in the park was set aside to remember a Japanese painter, Miki Haruta, who also fell in love with Ronda.

The park's overlook had a stupendous view of the valley and the scenic Serrania de Ronda mountains.

A view of Ronda's predominantly white architecture from the overlook:

As with many other towns in the Andalusian region, arches were also a common sight in Ronda. Decorative plates, most with intricate Moorish designs, were for sale in every shop. Much to Steven's dismay, I got hooked seeing all the plates here in Ronda and elsewhere and ended up buying a few as souvenirs! They weren't the easiest things to transport safely for another month of traveling but, I am glad to say, they all arrived home in one piece.

The stunning so-called Puente Nuevo or New Bridge spanning the 360 foot deep and 200 foot wide El Tajo ravine was built from 1751 to 1793 after the earlier one fell after just six years.

See the narrow path in the top center? We hiked that the next day to get better views of the ravine and the bridge.

This is one of my favorite photos;  I took it in just two seconds without spending time to frame the shot. I loved the contrast between the threatening storm clouds and the golden-hued bridge in the late afternoon. Steven chose this as his screensaver on his laptop.

The bridge and the ravine divided Ronda into the whitewashed old Moorish town known as La Ciudad and the new town called El Mercadillo that was built after the Christian reconquest in 1485.

Some of these homes and hotels looked perilously close to the edge of the cliffs. I'm not a big favor of heights, but even I couldn't help but looking way, way down at the stream below.

On the far side of the bridge, i.e. in the old town, we walked over to the Aldehuela Overlook which gave us grand views of the 'new city.'

A close up of the previous photo which showed the Jardines de Cuenca or Cuenca Gardens, another destination we left for the next day.

The guitarist at the lookout had a gorgeous voice. I was captivated by his rendition of Here Comes the Sun and the other songs he sang. We could even hear his melodious voice the next day while hiking the trails far below the bridge!

We found a great restaurant just steps away from the bridge where we each had our favorite meals: spaghetti for Steven and a chicken dish for me.

If we hadn't already eaten, these Spanish jamon con queso sandwiches or finely shaved ham and cheese looked very appealing. They were a common sight in every butcher's window in the region.

What a shame - our bags were too packed to take a ham leg home with us!

One of the biggest evening traditions in all areas of Spain was the paseo - where people of all ages leisurely strolled up and down the streets just because.

Ronda was the first town we'd seen that sold cork products - I was all agog but contained myself, at least until we got to Portugal, that was!

Next post: As you already know from reading this post, we spent time the next day touring the Bullring, exploring the ravine in much greater detail and also walking through the old Moorish part of Ronda.

Posted on February 9th, 2019, from our home in Denver's 'burbs.