Around and about in Ronda

Wednesday 7th October

Over the last couple of days we have traveled to Ronda, stayed a night right next to the bullring, and then travelled to Granada.
There have been lots of surprises along the way as we told Gloria to get us to these places by avoiding the freeways and taking us 'off the beaten track' through the mountains.

So along the way:
- we saw a fair percentage of the 40 million olive trees that are apparently planted in this province. They seem to survive where little else does,  and the patchwork patterns they create high into the rocky mountains are delightful. 

- the only other plants that seem to survive are cork trees.  The Europeans scoff at the idea of plastic tops to their wine bottles so cork remains in high demand. Some of the trees had been harvested of their thick cork bark but still appeared to be surviving.

-  if that was the 'flora' the only 'fauna' we saw was goats,  goats. ..and more goats. As he trudged through the rocky mountainside after his gaggle of goats a friendly shepherd returned my wave with a smile.  Meanwhile his huge flock were busy trying to eat the trees as well as any grass they could find!

- every now and then we would turn a corner and there would be a whitewashed town usually perched perilously on a steep slope.  There is almost a competition to see which town is the whitest.  Every house has sparkling white walls with terracotta tiled rooves and black wrought iron balconies.  An occasional splash of colour is allowed: usually ochre or mustard,  or occasionally bright blue as a tribute to the Moors.

Ronda is known for two things,  it's bullring and famous high bridge.  The bullring is slightly older than Sevilla but is a bit smaller so the competition is close on that score.

There are three times of the day in Ronda: before the tourist buses arrive,  when the tourists are there and after the tourists buses leave!  Unfortunately for the other tourists, (but probably fortunately for Ronda' s economy! ) it is a reasonable bus day trip from many of the beaches of the Costa del Sol such as Malaga, where all of the Poms live or holiday. Needless to say we aren't going there!!

After we arrived Ewan was determined to climb down into the Gorge below the Nuevo  (or new) Bridge possibly to avoid the masses of aforesaid tourists taking photos from the bridge. The number of  selfie sticks was appalling as people tried to take photos of themselves gleefully leaning over the bridge walls.  I think they should be banned as they can be lethal weapons in the wrong hands! I must be getting old as I am tempted to go along and throw all of them - the selfie sticks I mean, of course - into the gorge below!

The town has significant Moorish and early Christian buildings. Because of the high cliffs and deep gorges it was a relatively easy town to defend and access was limited because originally there was only one bridge,  instead of the current three. 

After his first foray into the depths of the gorge, Ewan was keen to inspect the other bridges so we slowly descended a steep cobblestoned street which ended in some Gardens and a Secret mine, which had been an Arabic fortress in the 14th Century. He climbed down 238 steps to the river whilst I contemplated my navel. ..and my sore leg! 
We staggered back up the hill and around the shopping area. As it was fairly cool in the mountains, Ewan had oxtail for dinner and I had some duck in a raisin sauce.  Oxtail seems to be very popular here and no wonder, as his serve was enormous. No mashed potatoes though!

Ronda suddenly became very quiet after the tourist buses deserted, until the locals emerged from ttheir houses to promenade along the main shopping street.

This morning we had more exploring to do and found yet more steps and gorges and old and crumbling buildings, as well as a very old Arabic bath house which had been restored. All very fascinating.

I managed to sneak in a cup of thick hot chocolate whilst Ewan bought himself two pairs of coloured pants: the girls will be amazed to hear that they are red and mustard!  What will the fashion police think I wonder?  The salesman tried to persuade him to buy a fancy shirt, but I took one look at it and thought he looked like a member of the Mafia, and just needed a thick gold chain to set the outfit off completely.

Since arriving in Granada this afternoon we visited the Tourist Information office to find a decent map,  walked past the enormous Cathedral (neither of us could face going inside another one! ), admired some flamenco dancing buskers, had a glass of sangria and received some free tapas ( apparently  quite common here!) and located the Arab Quarter. Currently we are having a veal tagine and some chicken couscous for dinner in a tiny restaurant with cushions and sofas, and hookah smoking University students.

The Moroccan influence is strong here and there is a whole street that looks a bit like an arab Bazaar. 

We will drag ourselves back to our apartment which has three wrought iron balconies overlooking a typical old city street: I have included some photos of the view from our windows in downtown Granada.

Your well traveled correspondent

Dianne