Susan's NGTAW Blog: Roundabout Ronda - our tour of this lovely city

Casa del Rey Moro - House of Moorish Royalty - in Ronda

Saturday, November 2, 2019 Ronda

It was a leisurely, rainy day today. We didn’t start our tour until 9:15, so I laid in bed until 7:30, even though I was awake at 6:30 AM and heard the morning rain. Mike slept in until 8, and we had our new routine breakfast – one fried egg, some bread, some fruit and café con leche.

Armando, our Ronda guide, met us at the parador and we began our walking tour of Ronda in the pouring rain. It pretty much rained all morning and we followed each other single file under our umbrellas like a bunch of little ducks in a row.

A wet day with our guide, Armando, in front of the bronze bull at the bullfighting stadium

Panoramic view of Spain's first bullfighting stadium

A walk in El Mercadillo

We walked a short distance to the bullring, from the Plaza Espana in front of the

parador. This is the newer part of town known as El Mercadillo (The Little Market). The Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Ronda, as the bullring is called, was completed in 1785 – designed by the same architect who designed the town’s Puente Nuevo. This is the oldest bullring in use in Spain today. There is just one bullfight a year here, in August. In the plaza, we saw the bronze bull, and also the monuments to Ernest Hemingway and Orson Wells (who had his ashes scattered here, for some reason).

We walked up the Calle Nuevo, which was lined with pretty shops. Even though it is a Saturday and a holiday weekend, the streets were deserted. We did catch some attention from the locals, as there aren’t many foreign tour groups. We walked along the Calle Virgin de los Remedios and Armando gave us a lecture on the regional architectural style – especially of the 18^th & 19^th century, when many of these buildings were new and the wrought iron grates were ordered from Barcelona.

Calle Nuevo in the "Little Market" area

The Centro Parroquial -Ronda's parochial center - "new" construction from the 1930's

Beautiful stone and tile pavement patterns

The sidewalks are colorful in the rain...

The town is known for its wrought iron balconies - patterns ordered from Madrid

Orange trees line the pedestrian only streets

Gorgeous iron door

Art nouveau butterfly balcony

We stopped at an overlook in the Jardines de Cuenca, which is a winding set of

staircases and balconies from the top of El Mercadillo (the Little Market or New Town) to the Puente Viejo on the opposite side of the gorge. From there, we had incredible views of the gorge, and the Río Guadalevín plus landmarks such as the Casa del Rey Moro and Puente Nuevo. We were also surrounded by rose beds, palms, cypress,succulents and evergreen trees. The Cuenca Gardens were built in 1975 and named after Ronda’s sister city.

Our tour group crowds along the balcony ledge to view the Puente Nuovo and El Tajo gorge

Casa del Rey Moro viewed from the Jardines de Cuenca

More walkways along the Jardines de Cuenca which reaches west to the Puente Viejo in the distance

The gardens are filled with beautifully blooming flowers, even in November

While standing at the balcony in the gardens, we were looking west to the Puente Nuevo bridge and Armando talked about the bridge’s construction. The first bridge to attempt to span the gorge at this location and height was constructed in 1735. However, it was built quickly and poorly as a single arch. In 1741, the entire bridge collapsed, killing 50 people. The Puente Nuevo “New Bridge” spans the 390 ft chasm across the Guadalevin River. It’s construction started in 1759 and took 34 years to build. There is a chamber in the central arch that was used for various purposes, including a prison.