"You conquer, peace of Iberia, my pure Ronda, place of light, with no day of rest, rose which lasts." Geraldo Diego
Ronda - Cradled amongst the beautiful mountains of the Serranía de Ronda, it was the early Celts who were first enticed by the spectacular cliff  top setting and named their new find Arunda. Built upon an isolated ridge of the sierra, the town is divided by the Guadalévin River. Nothing spectacular about that, I hear you say, but the Guadalévin flows through one of the most arresting sights you will ever see, namely 'El Tajo' - a gaping chasm slicing through the earth and dropping a dizzying 130 metres to the river below. Followed by the Phoenicians and the Greeks and of course the Romans, Ronda's dominant location attracted them all and under Rome the town became an important military garrison referred to as Arunda Laus, "the glorious". Later when the Moors ruled supreme in this part of the world, Medina Runda was enlarged and became the provincial capital of the Tarakuna district. Lavish mosques and beautiful palaces were constructed during this period and the Moors remained as rulers of Ronda until 1485 when the Catholics took the town. The monarchy, Fernando and Isabel, had luck on their sides that day as the resident army thinking that Málaga was about to come under Christian attack, had hotfooted it down the mountains and along the coast to protect it thus leaving Ronda virtually unprotected.
Amazingly this gem of a place is no more than a lazy hours drive from the busy Costa del Sol and thus has become a favourite day trip for visitors. Despite this, it never seems to be overrun and still maintains an air of calm. It is reasonably small so you can quite easily wander around the town to take in the sights and leave your car at one of the many municipal car parks around the town. The Plaza de España is as good as place as any to start your tour of the town and from here you can wander atop the gorge's precipitous edges and peer down to the depths where, the often quite puny, but nevertheless pretty river trickles through it. Once the town hall, the Parador (part of the famous Spanish chain of hotels) is located here and affords spectacular views of the surrounding sierras.
One question springs to my mind each time I visit Ronda. Why? Why in the world were generation after generation, century after century, so keen to span the impossible heights of El Tajo. After several attempts, the 18th Century bridge - which although two hundred years old is called the Puente Nuevo (new bridge) - is certainly an amazing feat of engineering and took a total of 29 years to complete. A staggering 81 metres high, the Puente Nuevo is just 16 metres short of London's Big Ben and 12 metres off New York's Statue of Liberty and is without a doubt the symbol of the town and its architectural spokesman. A new information centre has been opened in the bridge itself and here you can read all about the history and see pictures of its construction. In Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, he describes how during the early years of the civil war 'facists' from a nearby village were made to walk the gauntlet between two jeering lines of townsfolk 'in the plaza on the top of the cliff above the river'. At the end of the line the victims, were thrown to their deaths over the gorge's sides. A sobering thought as you stand atop El Tajo today.
Ronda - The birthplace of Maestranza, an order of knights who laid down the rules for early bullfights performed on horseback, Ronda was later home to generations of the Romero family, who established the basics of modern bullfighting on foot. The bullring at Ronda is said to be the oldest in Spain and has one of the largest arenas. Built in 1785 on Calle Virgen de la Paz, the bullring is a Mecca for aficionados including such famous faces as Ernest Hemingway  and Orson Welles. Even if you are not a fan (and I am not) you cannot help feel a sense of excitement as you wander into the middle of the sandy arena and imagine what it must feel like to be out here as a matador, thousands of adoring fans….and one very large, very angry bull! The Museo Taurino within the bullring contains a wealth of memorabilia including photographs, ancient books and tiny costumes worn by old stars such as Pedro Romero - who killed a total of 5,500 bulls in his career, without being gored once - and the new breed of matador like Jesulín de Ubrique who, several years ago arranged a bullfight only for women and bussed them in from all over the country!
If it's lunchtime and you have a head for heights, try one of the many white washed restaurants, which cling precariously to the top of the gorge. Reaching for the salt may make you feel as though you could be freefalling to your death at any moment but the views and light breeze from which these terraces benefit, far outweigh the fear factor. If you are a tapas freak, you won't be disappointed in Ronda either. Lots of bars offer tasty morsels, or try the more hearty mountain fare such as strong stews made with rabbit, partridge or quail.
An extremely pleasant place to visit and wander around is the Casa del Rey Moro. Although the 18th Century house (supposedly built over the remains of the Moorish palace) is closed, the gardens that surround it, designed by the French landscaper Forestier and constructed in 1912, are lovely. Reminiscent of the Alhambra's Generalife, the garden combines Hispanic-Moslem design with trickling fountains, vines clinging to colonnades, brightly coloured flowerbeds and delicate ceramic touches. The views are also wonderful and the garden was cleverly designed to incorporate the dramatic landscape that surrounds it. If you have the energy, La Mina is also housed within the confines of the Moorish King's House. A Muslim era stairway of two hundred steps which zigzag down through the rock to the river below once echoed to the footsteps of human slaves who were once used to pass skin jugs of water up to the city through the mine. This secret water source enabled Ronda to maintain water supplies when under attack and provided a hidden entry/exit point into the old city. It didn't stay hidden forever however - the mine was one of the points through which the invading Christain forces entered the city in 1485.
Throughout Andalucía, the ravines, caves and valleys have long been a refuge to bandits or bandaleros as they are known in Spanish. The activities of these notorious brigands and of the smugglers, who carried contraband through the Ronda hills from Gibraltar, sparked the government's action to set up the Guardia Civil, Spain's rural police force in 1844. A history of these adventurous rogues is housed at the Museo del Bandolero on Calle Armiñan and makes for an interesting stop. Also on the same street Museo Lara exhibits art and antiques all housed in a beautiful old mansion.
Walking down from Calle Armiñan brings you along an impressive stretch of Ronda's old walls and following them down you pass through the Puerta de la Exijara, which was the entry to Islamic Ronda's Jewish quarter. As you pass through the arch, before crossing the bridge, turn right and you will come across the lovely, almost intact 13th and 14th Century Baños Arabes (Arab Baths). Crossing the Puente Viejo -the old bridge (!), you can walk back up to the Plaza España through a small park along the gorge's edge. From here you can admire the Moorish King's gardens from across the gorge and as you climb higher you get a lovely view of the eastern side of the Puente Nuevo. There are other places of interest to visit in Ronda; the Palacio de Mondragón, thought to have been built for Abomelic, ruler of Ronda in 1314; the Iglesia de Santa María la Mayor, a fine church built on the site of Muslim Ronda's old mosque and an interesting mixture of Gothic, Renaissance and baroque architecture; the 15th Century Iglesia del Espírtu Santo and the old city walls and gates all deserve a mention. You can pick up a good map and full listing of sights from one of the tourist offices dotted around the town.
For a final look at Ronda, you can either walk or drive down a small track just off the road heading out of town to Algceriras to get that picture postcard view of El Tajo and the Puente Nuevo. After starting your day peering over the edge of the bridge, it makes a fitting end to see it from a different perspective, towering above the gorge, white houses clinging impossibly to its upper edges with an Andalucían azure sky beyond. The words of another writer drawn to the place years ago rang in my ears: "Ronda, high and deep, categorical, profound, round and high".
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