The Place: Ronda, Spain

2020 is the year my husband and I have planned to take a trip to Europe and spend time in Spain, which I haven’t visited since my junior-year-abroad in college. Of course, we all know about best-laid plans in the time of the coronavirus. Though there’s no way to know when my body will get to Spain, I can do a bit of virtual traveling. Scrolling around the Internet, I zeroed in on the small city of Ronda as a fine place to visit.

Ronda [Urlaubsguru]

At home in the eagles’ nest:

Ronda perches atop craggy cliffs surrounded by mountains in Spain’s southern Andalusian region. White-washed buildings with red tile roofs and black grillwork cluster together on both sides of a 400-foot-deep gorge known as El Tajo. South of the gorge sits Ronda’s Old Quarter, where some of the cobblestoned streets are so narrow cars cannot pass. Far below, on the gorge floor, flows the Río Guadalevín.

Getting there:

Isolated on its hilltop perch, the city connects with the coast along the dramatic Ronda-Marbella Road. A winding, sometimes dangerous series of hairpin curves opens onto breathtaking views of rolling hills, olive orchards, and snow-topped mountain ranges. From Algeciras on Spain’s southernmost tip, passengers can board Mr. Henderson’s railway. Built by the British in the 1890s to connect Gibraltar with Madrid and points beyond, the train today passes through lovely rural landscapes on its way to Ronda.

Outpost or crossroads?

In spite of its outpost location, Ronda has existed, and been fought over, for thousands of years. In the sixth century B.C., the Iberian Celts chose the well protected site for a settlement. Subsequent waves of Romans, Greeks, and Visigoths left their marks before the Moors conquered the region. The Arabs remained for almost 800 years, until the late 1400s, when they in turn were ousted by the Castilian Catholics to the north. Mosques were converted to churches, the best-known being Iglesia de Santa María la Mayor. Only one brick and stone minaret is left, but the Moorish influence in Ronda remains strong in its architecture, foods, and customs.

Lodging in style:

Spain’s world-renowned paradores offer luxury hotel accommodations in historic buildings—castles, convents, fortresses, and the like. The Ronda Parador, set in a former town hall, hugs the edge of the gorge and offers stunning views of the countryside, the city,  and its iconic bridge. Although known as Puerto Nuevo (new bridge), it was built in the late 1700s. Stone arches and buttresses blend in with the cliffs, and, at the bottom, a waterfall spews into the river below. In addition, the parador restaurant serves a number of regional specialties, including stewed partridges, cold garlic soup, and sweet egg-yolk flans.

Palaces:

The Casa del Rey Moro is a palatial building that, in spite of its illusion to a Moorish king, was actually built in the 1700s, long after the Moors were expelled; its Moorish-styled gardens were added in the early 1900s. The Moors did build the Water Mine below the palace to collect water from the river below. Some 300 cliff-carved steps lead down to a lovely river pool, and adventurous tourists with good knees can follow in the footsteps of the water-collectors. The nearby Mondragon Palace, a local history museum, does date back to Moorish times.

A bullring:

Ronda’s Plaza de Toros is one of the most handsome and legendary in Spain. Two tiers of covered seating amid Moorish-styled arches and columns look out on a ring of sand over 200 feet in diameter. It was built in the 1700s, during the golden years of Ronda’s most famous son, the bullfighter Pedro Romero. Romero, considered the father of modern bullfighting, changed the face of the sport, which dates back to the first millennium A.D., from one of raw courage to a true art form. Within the white-washed building is a museum dedicated to bullfighting. Outside, new memorials honor two famous men drawn to bullfighting in general and Ronda in particular – Ernest Hemingway, who apparently celebrated his last birthday in Ronda, and Orson Welles, who had his ashes buried here.

There’s more:

Most of my virtual visit to Ronda took place at two websites. A delightful in-depth history of the city can be found at Andalucia.com. And Ronda Today is fun in many ways.