Ronda

The town Ronda stands on a towering plateau, which is divided in two by a plunging river gorge known as El Tajo. El Tajo is spanned by a bridge called the Puente Nuevo which was re-built in the eighteenth century and provides access to both sides of Ronda. On one side of the bridge is the old Moorish town with many historic buildings including the House of the Moorish King.
To get to Ronda, we took a lovely 2 hour train ride from Granada through rolling hills, olive groves and small towns. We first stayed at Hotel San Francisco recommended by Lonely Planet. During our walk around town we were in awe at the first sight of the gorge. The next day we checked into the Parador for 2 nights. When they heard we were celebrating my birthday and they upgraded us to a room with a view over the gorge and valley. The room and views were so beautiful! We had a balcony overlooking this fertile sloped valley with small farms and olive groves. You can see the Parador on the left side of the photo above. It was heavenly!

Went to some great museums including Bandalero (bandit) museum, wine museum, catedrals, and the bullfighting museum. We learned a lot about bullfighting at the plaza de Toros, the oldest bullring in Spain. Ronda had an incredible pedestrian only shopping street that became so lively during the local's paseo (around 7:30-10pm). The last day it started to rain heavily. We tried our first hot chocolate at a cafe and became addicted to this thick, rich treat. It was almost like drinking warm chocolate pudding. View our Ronda slideshow. Next stop, Gibraltar.