ronda

This Friday (June 6) I went to Ronda, Málaga for a day trip.  I took a bus from the Seville Prado station and was at Ronda within an hour and a half, so my friend Carlyn and I had a good 6 hours to explore the city.    

a map of Andalucia, the southern region of Spain, that I’ve been traveling through lately

I love traveling by bus because I get to relax and enjoy the ride and look at the scenery as we drive.  The bus is so easy, and it’s a point-A to point-B kind of ride, so I don’t have to worry about missing a stop or anything like that.  The Spanish countryside is beautiful!  The hills are covered in sunflower fields, and there are lots of orchards.  I saw one field of corn on my way to Ronda, but it was kind of pathetic compared to Midwestern corn.  It’s really interesting to me that there aren’t really any kind of suburbs in Spain.  After you get out of the city, which is a clearly defined boundary and you can tell you’re out of the city, you are in the middle of nowhere!  We might pass other towns and cities, but there’s no gradual flow through suburbia for a few hours before you actually get to the city.

terrible picture quality (it’s from the bus), but a sunflower field on the way to Ronda

Ronda is amazing.  There are tons of white towns across Spain, but Ronda is loaded with history and sites to see in addition to its pretty little white houses on the hills.  It’s also a very touristy town, so we had an easy time finding our way around and getting information.  We found a tourist center right when we arrived (plus they spoke English which helps so much for directions!), and we were able to buy a student pass that got us into 4 major sites for just 5 euros... and we got a map!

The first stop on our list was Puente Nuevo, or New Bridge.  This is where the breathtaking views began.  On one side were white houses on the edge of a cliff, on another side were mountains and hills and countryside, and on the other side (down) was a beautiful river and cliffs.

After we took in the bridge and the views, we headed through town to find the other sites included in our student ticket.  We visited the cathedral of course- I’ve lost track of how many cathedrals I’ve been to in Spain- and also came across the ruins of the wall that was originally built around the city.  

We walked back to the more popular area and modern area of town and found a spot to eat lunch.  Tapas are super popular in Spain, but a lot of restaurants also have a “menu del día” or menu of the day.  You can choose 1 plate from the “plato 1” list, 1 dish from the “plato 2” list, and you also get bread, salad, fries, a drink, and dessert.  The best part: it usually costs about 9 euros.  I tried paella for the first time.  It had mambas, which are whole shrimp in it, and I couldn’t eat them.  You’re supposed to pull of the head, because the eyeballs and everything are still there when they serve it, but I just couldn’t eat it.  I also had croquetas, which are like nuggets full of cheese and some other sort of meat.  For dessert I got cheesecake.  We ate during sietsa time, so we took our time eating and taking advantage of the wifi, a place to sit, and the shade from the heat at the restaurant.  While we were having lunch, there was a British couple, an American family, a Chinese couple, and a group of Spanish girls.  Carlyn and I were some of the best Spanish speakers there, but it was fun to have such a diverse group of people at a lunch spot.  

paella

croquetas

After lunch we headed towards “old town” to see the other 2 bridges in Ronda, the Arab baths, and the Moorish King’s Palace.  Puente Nuevo is definitely the most amazing of the 3 bridges because it is so big, but the other 2 bridges gave us a great view of the other bridge and got us closer to the water. 

 The Arab baths are so cool.  They were constructed at the outskirts of the city for travelers and residents to maintain the standard of hygiene and health that was required by Islam.  There is a cold room, a warm room, and other rooms that served as restrooms or helped filter steam and bring in new water.  The technology in some of these ancient structures is mind blowing.  

Up the hill from the Arab baths is the Palace of the Moorish King.  Ronda is full of hills, and it kind of felt like all we did was walk up and down.  Every time we would be ready to move on to the next thing, we would realize that it was up the hill we had just walked down.  We walked up the hill to the palace, and then we saw that there were stairs that lead down into the mine below the palace.  Thankfully the view from the bottom was so worth it.  We were on the water level, so we could see up the gorge to the bridges and houses plus have the water right at our feet.  The palace is currently undergoing restoration, so we couldn’t go in, but the trip down to the mine was worth our time!  When I see buildings like the palace that are being renovated, I am amazed and appreciate the work that has been done to restore and maintain other ancient buildings, like the Cathedral in Sevilla and the Alhambra in Granada.  The palace is in great condition considering how old it really is, but other sites I have seen look like new.   

Ronda was a perfect day trip.  Because we had a limited amount of time, I felt like we were able to stay on target and see more with the time that we had.  I left feeling hot, tired, and extremely satisfied with the trip (and thanks to Olivia Kitts for the recommendation!).      

On the way home from Ronda, some friends asked me to go to the beach in Cádiz with them the next day, so obviously I said yes.  I can’t pass up the beach, especially when it’s only an hour and a half away from Seville and the bus costs about 20 euros round trip!  Plus I got to see some of the city of Cádiz, which is a major port city in Andalusia.  The beach had a lot bigger waves than the other beach I’d been to near La Rábida a week or so ago.  It was also a lot busier, which meant we got the full on European beach experience- no one goes nude, but the women just don’t wear their tops, children run around naked, and the men wear the boxer brief equivalent of swim trunks.  

We had the perfect day for a beach trip, and the best part was that it was only Saturday which left today for me to relax and get ready for the last week of class for this term!  I can’t believe I’m almost at the halfway mark.  I have a lot more to experience and enjoy during my time here, but I am also excited to share this trip with everyone at home in a few short weeks!