Ronda is considered one of the most beautiful and romantic cities in Spain. Both Hemingway and Orson Welles were struck by this city and left memorable quotes about its beauty to be printed on walls and t-shirts in the city. Welles liked the city so much that he asked to have his ashes disposed of here after his death.
Our day turned into a bit of an impromptu food tour of the city in addition to an exploration of the El Tajo Gorge. We weren’t in a particular hurry to go to the city center so we hung around François until about 10am before heading out. I spent the time unproductively watching “Slow Horses” on the computer, while Ton was much more productive researching places to go in the city.
It is a little over a mile to the center from the campground, but much of the walk is along a pedestrian mall full of interesting shops and little cafes. As Ton was not quite happy with the sky when we were walking we stopped in one of the cafes for a Churro and coffee.
Spanish Churros don’t come with the sugar and cinnamon we are used to in North America. Instead, they come with a thick glass of hot chocolate for dunking the Churro. Ton and I both prefer the Spanish style.
As we were enjoying our Churros the sun started to break thru so we were rewarded for our patience with better skies for photography. We headed to the old town which dates to the period when Ronda was part of the Moorish Kingdom of Nasrid based in Granada. The town was located on one side of the gorge and built with the typical fortified Medina that we saw many examples of in Morocco.
We found a trail down into the gorge from the old town and followed it to the Roman Bridge which was the original bridge across the river. They have a beautiful trail system that you can take thru the gorge, but unfortunately (or fortunately) for us was closed for maintenance.
Instead we had to take a wider and higher trail that traveled across the top of the gorge. It was still quite a climb but wide and well guarded by high walls.
We spent about an hour walking along the side of the gorge. When we got back to the new bridge we had visited yesterday we were glad we had spent the time down in the gorge.
The crowds in the center of town were double or triple what we experienced yesterday evening. Ronda is a day trip destination from both Seville and Malaga so at mid-day when we returned to the bridge all of the day trips had arrived.
Ton had picked out a wine bar that was supposed to have a good selection of local wines and a good view. It opened at 1pm and we happened to be the first customers so we got the best seat in the house looking out over the gorge. We had a couple of Tapas and two glasses of red wine from Ronda. Both the tapas and the wine were excellent. We had picked a good place because by 1:20 there was not a seat available in the restaurant.
After finishing our wine and tapas we decided it was time for lunch. We didn’t rush right out for lunch as we have adapted to the Spanish and Moroccan lunch which is eaten between 1 and 3 pm. We first walked to a nice park and having walked off our wine and tapas we now headed to a nice restaurant for a proper lunch.
Lunch was delicious and again featured excellent wines from the region. Ton surprised me by ordering a hamburger, but she must have had some inside information because it was spectacular.
By the time we finished lunch it was after 3 pm so we slowly made our way back to François. Ton spent a lot of time window shopping and we moved at a leisurely paces as the return trip is up hill. In total for today we walked over 7 miles with a lot of climbing and descending. We took it easy for the rest of the day.