Ronda sightseeing

When we went down to breakfast, cloud enveloped the whole of the town and the mountains around. Slowly during the morning the cloud lifted, revealed the plain and the peaks. By mid afternoon all was bathed in bright sunshine again. We walked and walked all day, seeing as much as we could manage of this extraordinary town with a millennium of rich cultural history. 

One of the most remarkable places we visited was the garden of the house one of Ronda's Moorish rulers, which contains 'La Mina', a 14th century flight of 208 steps, about 200 feet down from one of the garden terraces to the river.

Remarkable, because it was excavated by Christian slaves through and inside the limestone conglomerate of the cliff face, hardly visible from the exterior. Even so, the stair well was illuminated through brickwork lattices at points where the the stairs were through open cliff face. Slave power carried water up from the river to the gardens by means of a human chain. An extraordinary feat of engineering from the days before pumps were invented.

Ronda doesn't have a Cathedral, but it does have a huge Collegiate church of high ecclesial standing. Until the re-conquista, it was the grand mosque of a predominantly Moorish population.

In the same square, to the right in this picture is the current Ajuntamiento, which began life as a mediaeval Moorish market and served as a cavalry barracks during its long history. The church tower with its ring of bells started life as a substantial minaret. Inside the entrance area of the church, the ornate mihrab of the mosque was preserved, when it was uncovered during restoration after a nineteenth century earthquake.

There's also a seventeenth century convent of the Poor Clares, still in use and occupied by a community of contemplative nuns, which still lives and worships within a prison like enclosure.

Everywhere there amazing views of the surrounding countryside from balconied parks and walkways -

There are also an immense variety of views of the canyon and its three stone arched bridges from every level.

Ronda also has Spain's oldest bull ring. It's the town where the present theatrical ceremonial surrounding the bull fight was invented in the late eighteenth century and spread from here. Hemingway and Hitchcock amongst many creative people found inspiration here in another era. It doesn't appeal to me, the town and its environment are quite enough.

We dined in the Parador for a second night, and I ate white bean and partridge stew, a traditional rural dish, very filling, the portion I was served would have done two ordinary meals if I was cooking it myself and I couldn't finish it. A bit like Ronda itself, such a lot to see, too much for one very full day. We must come again!

Journey to Ronda

I was on my way out to celebrate the Eucharist at Calahonda at half past eight this morning, just after the rising sun had flooded the east facing vestibule of our apartment block with light that gave its black marble a numinous golden glow - a great start to the day. I noticed a group of people chatting animatedly in Spanish, eating breakfast together outside a cafe-bar at the the top corner of plaza san Rafael, near the barrio's covered market. Apart from this unexpected sign of life, the streets were quiet, few shops or eateries were yet open. It was too early for holidaymakers or foreign residents. It gave me a little glimpse of what local people do if they´re not busy at the weekend.

There were twenty plus at Calahonda, and two children made a presentation to the congregation at the end, which was received with enthusiastic applause. There were nearly sixty at Los Boliches, as more winter visitors arrive and settle in.

After lunch we drove to Ronda in bright afternoon sunshine on the slow scenic route over the Sierras de las Nieves on the N366 from Coin via El Burgo, a striking looking village that nestles beneath the sierras - seen here in the distance from the high vantage point of the Mirador del Guarda Forestale , up 900 metres above sea level.

We went up further from there to the so called Pass of the Wind ( it sounds funnier in English) at 1290 metres before descending to Ronda, which is 732 meres above sea level. For much of the route, the road is narrow, winding and challenging to drive because there are so many enchanting views to distract attention. We arrived at the Parador de Ronda an hour later than expected, but we still had a couple of hours of daylight left to look around and enjoy the sunset before dining in the Parador restaurant.

Ronda is situated on a huge limestone outcrop surrounded by a bowl of mountain peaks. The outcrop is divided by a huge limestone canyon forged by the rio Guadelvin, four hundred feet deep in places. The Parador sits on the edge of the cliff above the gorge next to the late eighteenth century puente nuevo bridge.

It used to be the town's Ajuntamiento building, and has been extensively modernised to provide high quality accommodation for visitors. Our room gave us a view over the western end of the gorge, gloriously lit by the setting sun. We dined in the Parador restaurant, and enjoyed a selection from a marvellous nouvelle cusine menu making the most of the local ingredients and traditional recipes.

St Paul's day on the beach

Today's the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul, and the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. No extra duties today, but it's been an eventful week with memorable experiences. We were delighted to discover as we stepped outside this morning that the wind we could hear howling from inside our apartment was pleasant mild air. We went over to the office so that I could print out my sermon notes for tomorrow and to take advantage of the internet connection to email the Parador in Ronda, where we hope to spend a couple of nights before Clare's flight home on Tuesday. 

Then we visited the market and bought a couple of sea bream for supper, one of them rather large, but sold with charm and enthusiasm by our usual fishmonger, ever ready to help us get our heads around the different names in English and Spanish for the creatures on his counter. A stroll along the beach before lunch and another stroll along the beach and a sit down out of the breeze to enjoy the winter warmth for a while before the sun hid behind the beach front apartment blocks. This is special for the end of January when it usually rains. 

Altogether, quite a lazy day, and while we were cooking those amazing fish, an email from the Parador confirming our booking. The bream is an oily fish like mackerel, but its flesh isn't early as dense and the flavour delicate. Despite the formidable size of the fish I'd picked, it was a pleasure to eat with rice, broccoli and haricot beans. It didn't leave me feeling I'd eaten too much. For pudding we had half a persimmon each accompanied by a yoghourt which was a mixture of goat and sheep milk. Beautiful delicate flavours together, worth repeating when we're in family banquet mode over Easter.