Ronda and the Rugged Landscape

Many visitors to Spain have an image in their mind of rugged mountain landscapes, white villages and castles, agile bullfighters, gypsy flamenco music and dancing. This is Andalusia. Of course everyone has heard of Granada, Córdoba, Seville, or the Costa del Sol but the real Andalusia is to be found on the small inland towns and cities, Ronda for example.

Ronda is only an hour from the Costa del Sol, but is the largest of Andalusia's white villages, known locally as pueblo blancos. Not seeing Ronda would be like visiting Paris and not seeing the Palace at Versaille. A deep gorge known as El Tajo splits Ronda in two, the old Moorish quarter, and the new market town on either side.

Getting to Ronda is easy by car, bus or train, and has the great advantage that despite her population of nearly 50,000 souls the old quarter and centre of town is no more than a 15 minute walk from end to end. The view over the Tajo and Caldera is nothing short of spectacular, as are the old streets with white-washed homes and windows decorated with flowerpots and hanging baskets.

The El Tajo gorge splits Ronda in two, one one side lies the ancient Moorish quarter with its narrow streets and history dating back 8,000 years, whilst on the other side the new market town sprang up on the site of ancient oak forests less than 500 years ago. Sadly the oaks are long gone, but an effort to recreate the relaxing feel of a forest in the heart of the city has been recreated in Alameda park.



Straddling the Tajo is one of Spain's most photographed and iconic monuments, Ronda's Puente Nuevo, a bridge that stands nearly 100m tall, made entirely of rock quarried from the river bed below. The bridge was completed in the late 18th century, around the same time as the bullring, coincidentally by the same architect.

Ronda is almost universally known as the home of modern bullfighting, and Ronda's Plaza de Toros its spiritual home. In fact these days Ronda has only one bullfight per year during the Goyesca Feria held in September, the rest of the year the bullring is open to the public who have the chance to view it's impressive museum.

Resident's of Ronda will happily tell you the Plaza de Toros is the oldest, biggest, and most impressive of all the world's bullrings. In fact it isn't the oldest, though the rueda (the sandy area in the centre) is the world's largest, and the bullring truly is impressive. Even an objective opinion of architectural beauty can't deny Ronda's bullring is special. The entire building was completed in 1785, and is the ring is surrounded by 136 Tuscan stone columns supporting seating for 5,000 spectators.

Away from the bullring and the 'art' of bullfighting, Ronda is a city rich is cultural heritage, the city has been continuously occupied for over 8,000 years making Rondeños a tough breed of mountain folk with a long history. This richness of culture is evident not just in the music or the attitude of the people, but also in the architecture of other buildings which have undergone renovations with every cultural shift the city has experienced.

Visit Ronda's Santa Maria church for a beautiful yet bizarre mixture of architecture spanning the ages. Originally a temple to Diana in Roman times, and possibly an Iberian pagan temple before that, the building became a Christian church in the 5th century, before being destroyed t be replaced by a Mosque for Muslim invaders in 711AD, and then mostly destroyed again in 1485 to make way for a Christian cathedral. An earthquake in the 18th century destroyed the church again, and the current church is an unusually attractive blend of mosque, cathedral and parish church in moorish, renaissance baroque and gothic styles.

Ronda is blessed with several impressive museums, visit the Lara Museum on Calle Armiñan for an eclectic range of exhibits such as torture instruments, sewing machines, bullfighting outfits, clocks, wepons, and much more. Located nearby you'll also find the Bandit Museum with a comprehensive history in exhibits of the bandit years in ronda that started around the time of Napolean's invasion and didn't end till well in the middle of the 20rth century. The highlight however is the Municipal Museum in the Mondragon Palace, with exhibits from paleolithic times to the present including a large exhibit of Roman times in the Serranía.

A day trip into the Serranía will take you to some of the most spectacular and unique eco-systems in Europe, the mountains around Ronda, the Serranía de Ronda. The district has evidence of human habitation going back over 30,000 years with cave paintings at Pileta, dolmen burial chambers at Montecorto, and the ruined Roman city of Acinipo all located less than 10 minutes away from Ronda.

Aside from human endeavours, the Serranía de Ronda is as well known for the spectacular wildlife and flora to be found within her borders. Each spring and autumn the mountains are filled with wild flowers many of them quite unique and endemic to the valleys and mountains. Twenty six varieties of orchid have been discovered in the Grazalema, Alcornocales and Sierra de las Nieves natural parks. Many are only to be found in very small areas, perhaps only a single valley, and are now protected plants. The Serranía de Ronda is also known for being one of the last remaining sanctuaries of the Pinsapo, also known as the Spanish Fir.

Birdwatching is a pleasure and a joy in the Serranía, with the district being home to local birds as well as situated on the main path of Europe's migrating birds. Getting out and enjoying nature is very easy in the Serranía, almost everywhere is accessible on wonderful nature walks, though the Serranía is also a great place to cycle and keep fit whilst appreciating nature. The Serranía's many small villages are located on all of the main walking and cycling tracks, so lunch and refreshments are never far.