Ronda - the new WOW City

I don´t know if you can really compare Ronda with Edinburgh, but Ronda had the same effect on me as Edinburgh did on Hadley. After leaving Nerja, Kelly and I boarded a bus to Malaga. We left early and our guide book said that there were 14 buses and several trains daily from Malaga to Ronda. Well, as usual there are always obstacles when you travel and we ended up waiting for awhile in Malaga. The eventual bus ride to Ronda took us very slowly along the coast in stop and go traffic. We finally headed up into the mountains. I´d read that Ronda was surrounded by mountains, but as we neared the city, we seemed to plateau. It didn´t look like I anticipated. To be honest, I was a little disappointed. I wasn´t expecting Switzerland, but something a little more dramatic.

Ronda from the Opposite Side of the Valley

Needless to say, I wasn´t disappointed in the end. After depositing our bags in a very inexpensive, but freezing cold hostal, we took in the evening in Ronda. We walked through the town which was small and idyllic. We made a beeline for the bull ring. Ronda is the birthplace of bullfighting. There is a bullfighting museum which we visited. As we walked out of the bullring we head to a park. It was then that we truly saw what Ronda had to offer. Ronda is indeed on a plateau but once you are down in the city, there are mountains all around. What´s more is that the plateau drops off steeply to the vally below. The views are tremendous and cliff is high. You can stand on the edge of the cliff (safely behind guardrails) and watch the sun setting over the mountains in the distance. There is a deep gorge that runs through the middle of town and an amazing bridge has been constructed over the gorge that connects the two sides of the city. It is breathtaking. There is no shortage of beautiful old buildings, churches, and plazas in additional to the scenery.

Sunset on the Cliffs of Ronda

The next day Kelly and I took off to hike through the valley. Our destination was a small church on the other side of the valley that was built into the side of the cliff. We didn´t exactly know where we were going, but we asked a few farmers and followed some dirt bikers and finally made our way there. The valley was lush and green and dotted with a few solitary white farm houses. The almond trees were in bloom and we saw olive trees up close. From the other side of the valley Ronda looked equally beautiful. The church was closed when we got there, but it was the walk we were really after. We were then able to walk back to town and walk down the cliffside by the bridge and back up. We explored the rest of Ronda and we were ready to leave by that afternoon. We had a peaceful train ride back to Granada. All in all, a fabulous trip!

The New Bridge of Ronda with Almond Blossoms