Ronda
Written by Geoff Forster
Ronda: Buildings and Plazas
The beautiful plazas with fountains, the moorish old town, the new bridge (Puente Nuevo) over the gorge and the cliff (El Tajo), makes for the perfect picture postcard. A must for travelers to the area. There is so much to see in this wonderful historic Spanish town. A magnificent town steeped in history, with beautiful buildings and plazas. The views over the valley below from the 'Miramax' are jaw dropping. We watched the early morning mist and smoke from wood burning stoves rise up the valley one cold January morning. Breathtaking! What a place! A place you must visit! We love it!
The famous gorge is home to a number of interesting birds including , Blue rock thrush, Arctic swift, Lesser Kestrel & Chough. The Chough's aerial displays are wonderful, swooping and stalling in a series of rises & dives. Well worth stopping for half an hour to watch.
Of course there's also the incredible view. The huge boulders and amazing rock face. Everyone has to scare themselves silly by hanging on to the black metal railings and looking straight down!
At night the bridge is lit up and is very beautiful
This is the shrine of La Virgen de Las Dolores. It is still a functioning chapel. It is thought to have been a place of execution (garroting) as suggested by the gruesome carvings on the pillars. It certainly is a creepy little building (Bad vibes man!) 

This church is on the left as you head down the hill towards the old bridge. Iglesia de Ntro. Padre Jesús. A welcome relief after the spine chilling virgen shrine. The fountain below is to the right of the church.
We walked up through some gardens at the side of the gorge This would have been a really good picture if the sky had been blue. It was taken in mid-May and was about the last grey day we had. Before the four months of near guaranteed sunshine and blue blue skies. 

Look the sun came out ... 

Finally a shot from just outside Ronda looking at the gorge. We will of course be visiting Ronda often as it is our nearest major town. I will get better shots of the gorge and bridge under a real blue sky. Ronda Revisited
We go to Ronda regularly, it is only a short 30 minute drive down the excellent A369 from Benarrabá. This next photograph was taken from the east end of the town. Not many tourists make it this far from the bullring/bridge area of town. We usually park our car near here and walk down into the town. 
Here's the gorge revisited on a sunny day.
A page rewrite is due as we know Ronda quite well now (In fact we've acted as guides on a number of occasions for guests) and have far better photographs - it's near the top of my to do list .. so watch this page.