Ronda April 18-19

Upon dropping our friends, the Shahs, at the Train Station in Malaga, we headed west (kids in tow) along the interstate and then picked up a small road that took us northwest to the famous town of Ronda http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronda. The weather was a little dreary as Ronda’s beautiful setting in the mountains north of Costa del Sol brings with it much more rain than other parts of Andalucia. Like Granada, Ronda’s perched location made it one of the last cities taken back (1485) from the Muslims during the Reconquest.

Ronda’s most notable feature is the magnificent gorge that divides the old town (before being taken back) from the new town and the beautiful bridges that span the gorge. The gorge is 360 feet deep and 200 feet wide and as we walked the town and viewed the gorge from many angles, the gorge remained spectacular to us. It spills out on both sides to verdant farm and pasture land. Both Hemingway and Oscar Wilde spent summers in Ronda.

Ronda is the birthplace of modern bullfighting but we did not dwell too much on this since Angie and I have both been to bullfights and we are not big fans. A big score to us was the hotel where we stayed, Hotel Enfrente Arte, which features 14 very eclectic rooms an included “serve yourself” bar and the best breakfast we have had the entire trip. The common areas of the hotel include little spaces, both inside and out ranging from a small dining area inside a miniature bamboo forest to a roof top bar with a surf board table. We would recommend this hotel to anyone and we would recommend two nights to properly see the sights and capture the evenings, during which the gorge is lit up. We would have stayed longer but the hotel (which we were lucky to stay at due to a last minute cancellation) was booked the following night (April 19^th), so we took in a few historic sights, including a very well-preserved Hammam from the 11^th century and a particularly beautiful cathedral, and headed out of town to Old Ronda.

Old Ronda or Acinipo is the home to a Roman Settlement that dates back 2000 years. The archeologists are still unearthing the settlement but the theatre and stage are in amazing condition. The settlement is perched on another hill about 30 minutes outside of Ronda and does not get many visitors.

Upon driving back down the hill to Puerta Banus and Marbella, we were underwhelmed by the costal development which has made this part of Spain look like Miami / Fort Lauderdale. Marbella has a beautiful old town that can be done in about 3 hours.