Country: Spain
Place: Ronda
Visited in: September 2006
As our bus approaches the bus station, we pass two tour buses. My heart sinks as I catch a glimpse of the tourists pouring out of the buses, before we turn around the corner. Our plan has backfired!
With only a few days left in Spain, it had come to a choice between a day trip to Granada or Ronda. The choice had fallen on Ronda, because we weren’t up to facing the crowds that Granada was bound to attract.
We had taken the local bus from Málaga to Ronda. As we were dropping school children and pensioners off at the villages en route, we were beginning to think that we would have Ronda to ourselves.
We had only ourselves to blame for our naivety. Only 2 hours from Costa del Sol, of course Ronda would be served by the tour buses.
While I’m being negative, I might as well get this off my chest. I am probably committing a sin saying this, but I’ll come right out and admit it. We were disappointed with our visit to Ronda. There, it is out and we can move on to what we did like about Ronda.
The views save the day
Ronda might not have lived up to our expectations, but it wins the award for town with the best view. You could spend days at the back of Alameda del Tajo just staring at the view.
We joined a couple of elderly gentlemen, who were leaning over the railing admiring the view and sorting out the world’s problems at the same time. I imagine that this is a daily activity for the two of them. Not that I would know, because I didn’t ask them. But I cooked up a whole story about the two men, as I was standing there daydreaming. Because that is what Ronda’s view does to you. It makes you stop for a while and invites you to let your mind wander. And let me tell you, everything seems so easy when you are looking at it from above.
The Two Symbols of Ronda.
We eventually left the two men to sort out the world on their own and made our way to the bullring. Ronda’s bullring is considered one of the most beautifull bullrings in Spain, so we wanted to have a look inside. But as we approached the entrance we saw a hord of visitors make a beeline for the bullring, so we backed out again and moved on to the Puente Nuevo.
Puente Nuevo was completed in 1793 and is as impressive looking now as it must have been back then. Standing 98 meters tall over the Tajo gorge the bridge is consider the symbol of Ronda along with the town’s bullring. The Puente Nuevo is the work of architect José Martín de Aldehuela, who was also the master behind the cathedral in Málaga. The small room underneath the main arch was apparently used as a prison. If you have to be locked up, I can’t think of a more luxurious view from your prison cell.
La Ciudad
Once across Puente Nuevo we managed to escape the masses and wandered about the narrow streets of La Ciudad, the old part of Ronda, for a while. While the narrow streets amongst white buildings are typical Moorish traits, most other traces of the former rulers of Ronda are gone. But never short of imagination we spent a good few hours walking around making up stories about what type of life the old streets and buildings had seen.
Plaza de María Auxiliadora and Plaza Duquesa de Parcent
We were constantly drawn back to Ronda’s fantastic view though, as is evident in the short video below. This was taken from la Plaza de María Auxiliadora, while a guy was taking guitar lessons on a bench nearby.
Plaza Duquesa de Parcent is another nice little square to sit and enjoy Ronda. You can see the town hall with its arch windows from here or admire La Iglesia de Santa María. While most visitors probably walk by the square, no one else took time to sit in the shade of the square while we were there. So if the crowds get a bit too much for you, Plaza Duquesa de Parcent or Plaza de María Auxiliadora might be able to offer you rescue.
Ran from Calle Nueva
After a quick lunch we eventually made our way across the gorge again and ended up on Calle Nueva, Ronda’s main shopping area. We never made it into one single shop, because the crowds were just so unbearable that we literally ran away from Calle Nueva back to the bus station and caught the next bus back to Málaga, just as it was about to pull out of the station.
How did you get there?
We used the excellent bus company Los Amarillos to get to and from Ronda. The company runs a number of daily bus services between Málaga and Ronda.
Photographs
You can view more of our photographs from Ronda in our Photographs from Andalucía series.
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