Ronda

While visiting Spain, it is really necessary to go to Andaluzia. The rhythm of Flamenco and the Moorish echoes accompany you everywhere in this region.

Why Ronda?
This is the biggest rock in Andaluzia : Ronda lies over some gorges at a height close to 100 meters, extending to the Guadalevin River. After the gorges (known as „El Tajo”), lies Puente Nuevo or „The New Bridge”, that connects the old town with the new, „new” being a relative feature, since it dates from the XVIIIth century. Ronda is a popular town with lots of services for the tourists who come to visit it, including the antique shops. The town constructed in Andaluzia steel has kept a strong atmosphere, if you avoid the crowded summer months.

What to visit while in Ronda
The withdrown squares and the cobbled streets of  Old Ronda are very evocative and there are many places to visit in this area. One of the most beautiful and intimate is Palacio de Mondragon, which now hosts a little museum. The palace was built in 1314 as a residence of the Moorish king Abb el Malik.

Fernando and Isabella lived here in 1485, and the palace’s facade was rebulit in the XVIIIth century. Around this palace the very beautiful gardens and the famous „patio” of the Spanish people can be admired. A few steps away lies the magnificent „Parque Duquesa de Parcent”, dominated by the Santa Maria la Mayor Church, built on the side of a mosque, and by the Town Hall in Renaissance style , with an impressive „loggia”.

Eastward below, on the principal road, there is the San Sebastian Church, and to the south are some of the Arab Ramparts, with double doors:  Puerta de Almocabar,a moorish one, and Puerta de Carlos V, a Renaissance one. If you go to see them, you will also see the beautiful facade of Palacio del Marquez de Salvatierra with its strange sculptures showing nude children, considered to be Columbian figures.

A more modern part of Ronda
In the new town, you are not allowed to miss the famous bullfights, at „Plaza de Torros”, where men have tried their luck against bulls since the year 1785. In the interior, in Museo Taurino, there are some exhibits with clothes of the toreadors, capes embroidered with beads, sequins and cordings, next to historical photos of bullfights.  Enjoy your stay in Ronda, and return here to fill your soul with some of the beauty of the Spanish people.