Ronda……how can I put words to this place?
Whenever we travel, time permitting, I try to schedule something a bit different. To be perfectly honest, I had never heard of Ronda before this trip. While doing a bit of research I saw a photo, then read that Ronda is easily accessible by train. So I decided that we'd stay for a night on our way to Seville from Granada. We're so glad we stayed here. And to be perfectly honest, wished that we had more time.
Everything just seemed so perfect; the hotel, the Apartmentos Rondacentro was our favorite on this trip. About a 20 minutes walk from the train station, we had Unit A1, which had a fantastic view from the balcony.
Though I don't think there's a bad view anywhere around here.
But first we had to get there. We left Granada fairly early, walking from Plaza Nueva to Granada's Train Station, stopping for a "café solo" from Cafe Opera 5. Construction of the rail line to Granada and renovations around the station were going on during our stay. So we were bussed from Granada Train Station to Antequera-Santa Ana Station.
And while I sorely wished for some Ekiben Stands, we'd come prepared. We call it the "Madrid plan" where we purchase bread, jamon, and olive oil in advance and have that on the train, in the airport, or in this case in the train station. The nice olive oil we bought in Mercado Augustin and we'd found some decent Jamon Bellota Iberico Pata Negra at one of the shops on the way back to the apartment the night before.
Which kept us satisfied and made our train trip a lot more pleasant.
It was drizzly when we arrived in the White Hill town of Ronda. The walk to the apartment was easy….as I mentioned before, the location is spectacular with a view of the valley below. The place was also quite new and the woman who runs the front desk named Hilde was a joy.
There was a mini-kitchen and the all important washing machine/dryer. After freshening up a bit we headed out.
Plaza de Toros was a mere few steps away. Ronda is the birthplace of modern bullfighting. Francisco Romero is said to have invented the cape (Muleta) and sword system in Ronda. Before this, knights on horses fought the bulls. His grandson, Pedro Romero is said to have been perhaps the greatest ever.
The Bullring is a much visited site, but we'd arrived rather late and decided that we'd use our time to visit other places. Like the Alameda del Tajo, a park which wraps around the Bullring and has a beautiful balcony from which you can view the valley and the mountains.
The clouds and approaching rain added an even more dramatic touch to things.
As you can tell, Ronda is located above the valley and gorge. This served a purpose providing protection for first the Romans, then the Moors until the city fell in 1485.
The scenic bridge in the first photo is called "Puente Nuevo" and crossed the ravine named El Tajo. It connects the "Old Town", with the whitewashed Moorish buildings to the El Mercadillo; the new town.
The Missus decided that She wanted to the bottom of the gorge through the Old Town, but first we decided to finish checking out the park.
This memorial caught my eye, because it looked distinctly Japanese.
It had the name Miki Haruta inscribed. I was intrigued. Turns out that Miki Haruta was an artist, who came to Ronda, fell in love with the village, and didn't leave until his death in 1995.
We then headed up Calle Jerez until we came upon this shop.
Looking into the shop, I was met with this sight, which I described to my friends as, "I think this is what heaven looks like"!
Of course we got "cien grams" Jamon Bellota Pata Negra and a bottle of some local wine for the Missus.
Boy, the smells were intoxicating. Though I'm not sure what's up with the framed slice of jamon? Is it like the "framing the first dollar earned" thing? I do know the guy in Chef's Whites, it's Dani Garcia who got a Michelin Star for the now closed Tragabuches restaurant while at the helm.
It was a nice interesting stop.
La Casa del Jamón
Calle Jerez 28
Ronda, Spain
We headed on back to the apartment, got a load of laundry going, then crossed the Puente Nuevo into the Old Town.
There's a nice viewpoint from across the bridge.
From here we headed on down….taking a break at the Palace of the Marquis of Salvatierra.
It's quite a distinct structure with an even more interesting feature. Take a look at the four pre-Columbian figures framing the windows and above the balcony. These are Inca Indians! Symbolic of the far reach of Spanish Colonialism.
Right below the palace you can get a nice view of the "Puente Viejo", the Old Bridge which was constructed in 1616 upon the ruins of another bridge.
And the Arab Baths.
Taking a quick turn you come to a gate. This is the Arch of Philip V which was built in 1742 on the site of another gate that was located there.
We headed on down the stairs right before the Old Bridge, then swung around when we arrived at the cute, tiny, little church.
And arrived at the oldest bridge in Ronda….yes, older than the Old Bridge; called either the Arab Bridge, The Moorish Bridge, the San Miguel Bridge, or the Roman Bridge, depending who to talk to.
For many centuries, this was the entrance to Ronda. Nice view of the Old Bridge as well.
Heading back to the Old Bridge; you could really get an impression on how imposing a task it would be to take this fortified village.
We made our way back to the New Town by crossing the Old Bridge and walking up via the terraces.
At the highest most terrace, I saw a guy standing outside the gate to the street. I got kind of worried as he just seemed to be loitering around. Turns out, he had the keys to the entrances to the terraces and since it had started to rain pretty hard it was time to close the gates. He was waiting for us to finish taking our photos……..what a nice guy. I felt so bad for making him wait. It took another 15 minutes to get back to the apartment, where it was time for a shower and a nap.
But first things first.
We needed some sustenance…..something to keep us going….something like; well the jamon we bought earlier. Great thing about jamon, it doesn't need refrigeration. I just like to leave it out and watch it sweat….I hope to see some sweat. That tells me there's a good fat content. As things stood, this was cut well, but it lacked that jamon sweetness and deep flavor and was too salty.
But of course, it didn't go to waste.
Thanks for reading!
