Get Her Out Of My Heart

Carol and I had dreamed of going to Ronda on our 2001 trip, but there’s only so many things you can do.  Carol had tried to drive there from the beaches in 2009, but her friends took the keys away from her and “forced” her to hang out with them.

So Ronda was a must visit this trip, even if just for one day.  I actually built the itinerary around making sure we went.

Torie had been in Ronda just a couple weeks earlier, so once again, fortunately for us, it was once again Touring with Torie.  After parking (for free!) and walking past the city gates, Torie took us to the main old church in Ronda.  They were prepping a Paso for a procession, but the highlight was going up the tower to the patio platforms.  We had sweeping views of the town, the mountains to the north, and all around.

Next we walked to the famed New bridge (from the 1700s), an amazing feat of engineering that connected the two parts of the town high above the deep gorge we had been at the bottom of just a few hours earlier on the buggy trip.  We crossed over, and went to lunch at a restaurant built into the cliffs, just below the bridge.  The food was excellent, and the setting is jaw-dropping.  I had the pork churrasco, and that is an amazing way to prepare meat (including chicken).

After lunch, we walked to different overlooks of the cliffs.  You’ll see some pictures!  We could easily spot the hostel down below where we had been earlier.  The sweeping views from the cliffs were amazing.

Torie then took us into the pedestrian shopping area, which made us realize the town is much bigger than we imagined.  We tried to go back to the chocolate churro place Torie had gone two weeks earlier, but they were out of churros (not the best business move, running out of something during one of the busiest weeks of the year for them!), but we found another place near by, and basked in the deliciousness of dipping churros (different than in Mexico and the States) into warm chocolate liquid.

After that, Torie took us to the park along the cliffs, spilling in both directions – views up to the New bridge and down to the Roman bridge.  All the time you could hear the river rushing far below, on its way to the falls and lower valley.  We did not cross the Arab bridge, but could see it below us. 

We crossed the Roman bridge, and made our way out of town.  Off to Gibraltar.