Paris Départ : Ronda, Spain

Travelling on the bus to Marbella from Malaga, I met a young American (rather handsome too !) who has been living in Marbella for a few months. He told me that two places anyone coming to Spain must see are Alhambra in Granada and Ronda. I did not make it to Alhambra this time (another reason to go back to Spain), but did visit Ronda. Ronda is a village situated very high up on the mountain about an hour drive from Marbella.


You have to be alert to drive there with the twists and turns of mountainous roads and as we found out as were coming back to Marbella, they get lots of fog too especially towards the end of the afternoon or early evening.

A plaza in the center

As soon as you enter the village/town, you notice that this is a very very old town even by European standards. Lots of cobble stone and very narrow streets that offer incredible views. From the park in the center, you can see the valleys below and the river that divides the city. The height and the fall of the gorge Rio Tajo simply are astounding, accentuating the cliffs on each side. Perced on these cliffs  you see little and not so little building perched on their sides hanging precariously (though already for centuries).



To get to our restaurant to eat lunch we lurched like drunken soldiers on the very steep cobble stone street but the reward once seated in the restaurant in term of views is incomparable. Ronda was ruled by Romans, Arabs and Berbers in the past. It is also known as the birth place of the corrida (bull fight). There is an ancient

A bull in front of the ancient area

bull ring in Ronda that you can visit. And each year there is the Ronda fest that features corrida of course.

Once satisfied with tapas and sangria and other delicacies, as the straight men would say, being with women (though alone too I would have done the same....!), we went shopping. I swear Spain is so cheap compared to France, hotels, food and drinks and even cigarettes (cost half of what they cost in France). We bought leather shoes for cheap and each came back to Paris with about 3 cartons of cigarettes each ;-) !