Ronda & the El Tajo Gorge
8th – 16th January 2020: Caitríona: Ronda is my favourite place so far ❤ but I was glad that Saul volunteered for the drive to get there!
It took many steep and windy roads to get from Gibraltar up into the mountains, to reach Ronda which lies west of Málaga. It took about 2.5hrs to drive 100km of winding roads, but the destination is certainly worth the journey. Ronda is a town of 740m elevation, but it’s its site above the steep El Tajo gorge that makes it so spectacular. The Guadalevín River runs through Ronda, dividing it in two and carving out the 100+m deep gorge above which the city perches. The ‘Puente Nuevo’ (new bridge), which spans the gorge, linking old town and new, provides the most breathtaking views. Photos taken on a phone can’t really do it justice!
Morgan was reluctant to cross the bridge at first, pointing out that this bridge, Puente Nuevo, was built in the second half of the 18th century, because the older bridge had fallen down – and someday, this new bridge could well fall down too…
Taken on the bridge, looking west:
From the bridge, looking east:
Ernest Hemmingway, who spent time living and working in Ronda during the Spanish Civil War as a correspondent for the North American Newspaper Alliance, used events which took place in Ronda as the basis for his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940). In this novel, soldiers were thrown to their deaths from the bridge. Orson Wells also lived in Ronda. So great was his love for this city, that his ashes were scattered in a well at a country estate near Ronda.
Here we are atop a different bridge over the gorge:
Ronda itself dates back many centuries further. There is evidence of neolithic settlement in the area (the rock paintings of Cueva de la pileta are nearby, for example – the pregnant mare and the fish). The Celts settled here in the 6th century BC and called it Arunda. Later, the Phoenicians, then Romans ( Ronda received the title of city from Julius Caesar), then Suebi, and then Visigoths took charge… and then as with the rest of the Iberian peninsula, it was under Moorish rule for 700 years until 1485.
The buildings of the town are striking in that they are built into the hillside and you can see various levels of development as the building rises.
More streets and buildings of Ronda:
Caitríona: For those of you with an 80’s music vibe: Ronda is where Madonna recorded the video for ‘Take a Bow’ featuring real-life matador Emilio Muñoz. When I shared this fact with Olwen, she gave me a blank look and replied: who’s Madonna? 😮
A lot of that music video centres on the bullring in Ronda. Ronda is considered to be the heart of Andalucían bullfighting. The ‘Feria de Pedro Romero’ is traditionally held in Ronda during the first week in September, named after one of the most famed bullfighters of Spain, Pedro Romero, who died in Ronda in 1839. The highlight of the festival week is the ‘Corrida Goyesca’ bullfight. The bullfight is preceded by a procession of horse drawn carriages through the streets of Ronda with everyone dressed in 18th century Goyesque costumes.
There are many beautiful and striking buildings, palaces, churches, etc. in this town, unsurprisingly given the breadth of its history. We spent some time in the archaeological museum, housed in the Palacio de Mondragón, which was built in the 16th century. It has beautiful stonework and views over the gorge. We happened to be there on a Tuesday afternoon, a time when they offer free entry to all EU citizens. Luckily for Saul, it was still January and Britain had not yet exited the EU!
Exit to patios 
Internal courtyard 
Tilework on the ground still beautiful after five centuries
Caitríona: I was struck by the types of children’s clothes for sale in Ronda shops; clearly for special occasions, but a style which you would never see nowadays in Ireland or the UK:
It’s January…it’s churros time!
We found a café which did great tapas. A favourite was ‘burning chorizo’ which Saul ordered, thinking it would be nice and spicy. However, what this means is that they bring you a dish with flammable liquid in it and a chorizo on a skewer, and you cook the chorizo by turning it on the spit!
No trip is complete, of course, without a visit to the local train station 😁
The site we were staying at was a couple of kilometres outside of Ronda, up in the hills, such a quiet and peaceful place. We took a lovely walk out into the countryside one afternoon, giving us spectacular views over towards Ronda.
Time for a haircut! (with thanks to YouTube!)
Last few pics from Ronda:
We stayed in two different motorhome parks in Ronda; first we were two nights in the park in the centre of Ronda, Área Autocaravanas Ciudad de Ronda, which is unmanned – you pay at a machine and can get EHU via a meter at your spot. €10 per night, but there are no facilities or showers. We don’t have a link for this one.
We moved after two nights up to Área Autocaravanas ‘El Sur’ which was up in the hills, a drive outside Ronda. This one was €12 per night, with €3 extra for electricity. It was so peaceful and quiet up here!
https://www.areaautocaravanasronda.com/en/ 36.72340363224779, -5.16896089540643
After leaving Ronda, we headed west again. So many people had recommended Portugal to us that it seemed a shame not to visit, when we were so close by. So we drove northwest from Ronda, through the hills of the National Park of the Sierra de Grazalema, spotting the ‘pueblos blancos’ along the way, whitewashed mountain villages, and generally appreciating the beauty of this part of Andalucía.
One thing we have noticed as we have moved from the eastern part of Andalucía to the west is that the east has far more areas of countryside covered in huge swathes of polythene, under which tomatoes and other produce are grown year-round. The western part of Andalucía looks refreshingly green and natural by comparison. And the further west we go, the more varied and natural the planting looks. Before crossing over into Portugal, we decided to stop for a few days at Isla Cristina, a town near the border.