Views from Ronda

Ronda is a city in the province of Málaga, it takes 1h45 by bus as there are some unhelpful mountains in the way. The bus company Los Amarillos runs a daily service, and we paid 19€ for a return ticket.

Unfortunately we were not blessed with good weather, which was a shame as I am sure it is even more gorgeous in the sunshine! After arriving on the coach we headed to the tourist information to pick up a map. Most of the interesting parts of Ronda are found in the historical part of the city and easily walkable. We paid 5€ each for a student ticket that gave us entry into 4 different sites in the historical area; the Puente Nuevo, the Roman baths, the Palacio de Mondragón, and another art museum which was closed.

El Tajo, Ronda

Taking the tour

Despite the rather overcast nature of the day it was still lovely to walk around Ronda. It is situated in an very mountainous area which offers amazing vistas out over the landscape; on a sunnier day you could linger & drink them in for hours. There are plenty of miradors or view points to take advantage of them.

Ronda is also famous for its plaza de toros or bullring, which is the oldest in Spain, and there are many attractive old buildings in the historical area. We stopped for the obligatory photos with the bull statue & then headed for the Puente Nuevo.

The Plaza de Toros, Ronda

The Puente Nuevo

Its name, meaning ‘New Bridge’ is a little misleading, as it was completed in 1793. It is one of 3 Roman bridges in Ronda and is simply breathtaking. It spans the deep canyon ‘El Tajo’ and was the main reason I wanted to visit Ronda, being a fan of bridges in general. The stone seems to blend and merge with the rock of the canyon, and its such an impressive piece of architecture. Using our ticket it was possible to enter inside the bridge, where there is a room explaining a little of its history.

The Puente Nuevo

The Arab baths & the Palacio Mondragón

Next on our tour were the Arab baths, which were interesting although I don’t feel like I learnt much about them, lacking any kind of guide or information. After this we took refuge from the rain in the Palacio de Mondragón, described by the tourism board as ‘the loveliest enclosed space’ in Ronda. It’s the renovated palace of a Moorish king and now houses a museum. It’s a small palace but beautiful, with some exquisite tiling and lovely gardens which echo the Generalife gardens of the Alhambra in Granada.

Palacio Mondragón

Unfortunately after visiting the palace it began to rain in earnest, so we sensibly decided the best course of action was to go for a leisurely lunch before taking the bus back to Málaga. We ended up in La Puerta Grande, which proved an good decision as it was lovely & warm & the staff were extremely friendly. Some of us tried migas de Ronda, a local speciality. When we asked what it was exactly, we were told it was ‘breadcrumbs with chorizo & chocolate’, which seemed odd, however when it arived it was actually very tasty. Alas not so much for me the flan for desert, why does every single Spanish restaurant serve flan?!

Migas de Ronda

Overall it was a really good day, just a shame that it wasn’t nicer weather.