Cadiz to Ronda - Ronda, Spain
Ronda, Spain
Cadiz is great and we want to see more. It is worth two nights but we only had one, so we have a marathon to see as much as we can before the 12 noon check out of the hotel. Gordon wants to go to the old Watch Tower so that is our first stop. There are 176 steps to the top but it is worth it for the magnificent view of the city. My choice was to walk the old city wall around the old city and hence see the sea as we walk. We did a fair bit of it, starting at the beach where lots of people were swimming and sun baking at 10.00am on a Sunday morning. We left the sea at an interesting looking park which had dinosaur replicas everywhere. A bit strange but a lovely park with hibiscus and bougainvillea, which was a surprise, as well as topiary trees. Cadiz reminds me of the Barric area of Barcelona, very old with long, long narrow lanes, which are somehow Dickensian in their appearance. It is a lovely city and well worth a longer stay. There is a lot more to it than we saw and I would like to return.
We arrived back at the hotel in time to check out and Gordon and Rob went to the offsite parking station to bring the car around to the tiny lane where the hotel is located. They were gone for ages but we got to see the bride who was leaving from the hotel for her wedding. Yesterday we had been "talking" in Spanish/English to the mother and mother in law and they showed us the dress. Sometimes the language barrier is totally irrelevant when mums are talking about their daughter's wedding to another mother (and Father). It was lovely seeing her ready to go and she was beautiful and the bridesmaid's outfit was stunning.
When the men got back with the car, they were quite over excited. It seems the GPS went crazy and took them all over old Cadiz up and down the narrow lanes where it is near impossible to get a car through. However, the cause of their increased emotional state was that the GPS took them through a pedestrian mall where it was impossible to turn around or go back and they had to keep going with people staring, shaking their heads and waving their fingers. There was nothing to do but try not to hit anyone.
We finally left the bride and the excitement of the pedestrian mall behind and headed to Ronda via Arcos de la Frontera, both of which are high in the Sierra Nevada and are famous White hill towns. Arcos is lovely, high up on a ridge and clings to it like a white cloud. We couldn't believe it, but we found ourselves back in the super narrow lanes again, this time climbing up to the top of the town where the Castle and the town centre are. These lanes are worse than Cadiz! We get through unscathed to a car park at the top. A man has hawks, eagles and owls sitting on the edge of the ridge and charges people to put on the leather glove and have them sit on it. We decline but it is interesting to watch them fly away and then respond to his call to come back. After a tapas lunch, we go back down, followed by a police car to keep us on the curvy and narrow. Again, we make it without a scrape, but it is so tight in parts the car is beeping from all its sensor points.
Next stop is Ronda, high in the hills. It is quite jaw dropping, straddling a huge gorge with a stone bridge. We quickly check into our hotel high on the ridge facing the mountains and then go off to investigate the town. It is a white town on the old side, meaning a Moorish influenced town with its very old churches and white buildings. Over the bridge is the new town, maybe 18th century. Standing on the bridge looking over the gorge on either side are spectacular views. It is so deep and scary looking. Restaurants are somehow built into the side of the gorge on the eastern side which might be a nice spot for breakfast.
The hotel faces west and has a restaurant terrace area which catches the sunset over the Sierra Nevada mountains. We booked it for dinner at 8.30pm, the hotel girl having told us sunset was at 9.00pm. We were late, how unusual, but it was nearly over. Rob and Penny were on time and it was nearly over when they got there too. Tomorrow night, we will be on the bridge at 8.00pm and hope it is as clear as tonight.
Tomorrow we will resume our walk and cover the new town and do some of the walks into the gorge on both sides. There is also a bull fighting ring here which does tours (without bulls) which might be interesting. Gordon wants to see some caves with Neolithic cave drawings on a farmer's land.
Ronda is very beautiful so tomorrow will be a good day.