SPAIN: Romantic Ronda

Ronda dramatically sits on a high plateau in Andalusia (southern Spain).

Its history goes back to Roman times.

Followed by centuries of Islamic rule.  

Which was then followed by the Christian reconquest.

The natural beauty and turbulent history gives the town a romantic allure and attracted the "Viajeros Románticos".

 

Views stretch across sheer cliffs to rolling farmland and distant mountain ranges.

Even on a cloudy day it is stunningly beautiful.

 

The town is split in two by the deep El Tajo gorge which drops nearly 100 meters (330 ft) to the Guadalevín River below.

John got a bit nervous after I asked about an insurance policy....

At the heart of the town is the Puente Nuevo (the "New Bridge"), built between 1759 and 1793. The bridge was an extraordinary engineering feat for its time and allowed the town to expand beyond the medieval walls of the old Moorish city. 

John and I are still perfecting the art of the selfie, but, note the door in the middle at the top of the bridge, that goes "nowhere"!! Inside is a small chamber that was a prison at one time. I suspect there was no escaping from this prison. 

The massive stone bridge connects Ronda’s old and new quarters. 

The town is also famous as the birthplace of “modern bullfighting”. I hear you ask “what is modern bullfighting?” In the 18th century, Ronda helped “transform bullfighting from a mounted aristocratic pursuit, into a formalized spectacle performed on foot.” 

I suppose maybe that means it is more sportsmanlike and gives the bull a fighting chance? Maybe? The Plaza de Toros de Ronda, completed in 1785, is one of Spain’s oldest and most influential bullrings. 

The Viajeros Románticos (Romantic Travelers) were 18th and 19th century writers and artists who traveled through Spain, especially Andalusia, drawn by its "dramatic landscapes, Moorish history and sense of the exotic."

Ronda captivated them with its deep gorge, the Puente Nuevo, bandit legends and traditions like bullfighting. They embodied Romantic ideas of beauty, danger, and emotion. In more "modern times", writers and artists that we would know would be Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles.

Translated to today's terms, Ronda attracts Instagramers and Influencers.

We're retired and have no influence over anybody.  

(Stop thinking about the bull fighting!)