Part 4b - The White Towns & Cycling the Via Verde de la Sierra

Continued from Part 4a - Ronda

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And, now for some fun. Let's tour the White Towns near Ronda, then bike the Via Verde de la Sierra.

The Area Around Ronda

Aerial view of mountainous area northwest of Ronda from Google Earth      annotations by Lee

Legend to map above:
          1 = Ronda:  largest of the White Towns, where we stayed, center of the region
          2 = Grazalema:  White town, the first that we visited
          3 = Zahara de la Sierrra:  White town, the second that we visited
          4 = Olvera:  White town, starting point for our cycling trip on Via Verde de la Sierra
          5 = Coripe:  Station and town along the Via Verde de la Sierra
          6 = Puerto Serrano:  Town where we ended our cycling trip on Via Verde de la Sierra
          7 = Acinipo:  Ruins of Roman town
          8 = La Pileta paleolitic cave paintings near Benaojan
       

The White Towns

When we were planning to rent bikes, one of the reasons we decided to rent from Hike + Bike the Sierras was that in addition to renting bikes and getting us to and from the Via Verde de la Sierra, they were also able to set up van tours. Heather took us on a half-day tour to the white towns of Grazalema and Zahara de la Sierra.

Cork and Ham are Related

During the drive Heather showed us Cork Oak trees  (cork is a major industry in the area) and explained a bit about it. From June 15 to August 15 each year cork is harvested from the trees by stripping the bark. To avoid damaging the trees it has to be done very carefully and for each tree, only once in 8 to 12 years. The forests are treated as a national treasure; some of the trees are over 250 years old.  It was unexpectedly fascinating; upon returning home I read up more.

This photo story in The Guardian visually summarizes the process of growing, harvesting, and preparing cork. This post gives a brief overview, and this article explains more and some of the economic problems the industry faces.

In Ronda we had passively noticed many shops selling things made out of cork - purses, large bags, hats, coasters, etc. (This article (from Portugal) explains more about the wares.)  We're not great shoppers. Usually we tell ourselves at the start of a trip that we'll shop for souvenirs for our friends throughout the trip, but in the end, spend part of the last day frantically looking for some, sometimes at airport gift shops. But when we got back to Ronda we bought all the souvenirs we needed - cork ... and we were only half way along the trip.

The same forests contain various kinds of oak trees, each producing different kinds of acorns, including Cork Oaks and especially Holm Oaks. A great explanation of the forests of Iberia is here. These acorns are one of the three things that produces one of the most sought-after and expensive hams in the world, jamón Ibérico: (1) the native Iberian Pig, (2) its diet of acorns, and (3) its curing.  (At least, that's what I'm told - this article explains.  I'm not expert.  To me food is just body fuel ... one of the few things about food I usually pay attention to is whether it's organic and whether it comes from the agri-chemical industry's factory farms.)

Grazalema

We were fortunate. When we got to the town of Grazalema the clouds were hanging low on the mountains and it was raining.  It was lucky. It wasn't on our planned cycling day and this was the only day on our entire trip that it rained (if you exclude our first day in Barcelona when 5 drops of rain fell on us from threatening but rather dry clouds).

Since we come from drizzly Seattle; the rain didn't bother us. Likely because of the rain Grazalema wasn't crowded with tourists - the ambiance of the squares was more subdued than usual - many of the restaurants were closed, and the umbrellas were folded. (It was still warm enough that in summer in Seattle many of the umbrellas would have been up to protect patrons drinking some beer or coffee during a warm drizzle.)

We came upon a sign about about José Mariá "El Tempranillo". In the early 1800's he had been a local version of Robin Hood (or maybe a small bit similar to Poldark in PBS's series of the same name?) - a folk hero.

For those who can't enlarge the above photo enough to read it, it reads:

"The was a time when on this ground you step there were people who underwent hardship. 

"Productive farms belonged to a few and unproductive to the rest.

 

"Justice was not very fair: it favored privileged ones and it was always prejudicial to unprotected people. 

"You were lucky if you took acorns from under the Holm Oaks and ate them without being hit by a keeper or being taken to jail. Nevertheless, necessity made you lose any fear. 

"Among the most ragged and decisive people it was frequent to find people that without any fear, jumped fences, cut wire fences or forced bolts. This was because the hard work of resigned peasants or manufactures was not made for them. 

"In that field, and setting aside those who tried the world of contraband, there were others who followed the paths of crime, extortion, and robbery. 

"Some of these people are found in our mountains: Barbarán, Zamarra, Antonio Mena "El Sapo" (the Toad), Juan García Nebrón, or the furtive Pasos Largos. 

"Some of them, native from other lands, also chose our territories seeking shelter: the most outstanding case was the one of the without equal, José Mariá "El Tempranillo" 

"José Mariá "El Tempranillo" christened his son in Grazalema."

Were it people like these to whom Washington Irving was referring in the passage that I quoted in Part 4a - Ronda? 

"... even to the present day. Its inhabitants continue to be among the boldest, fiercest, and most adventurous of the Andalusian mountaineers, and the Serrania de Ronda is famous as the most dangerous resort of the bandit and the contrabandista"

This article recounts "El Tempranillo's" life. It says that apparently it may have become fashionable among a few wealthy Europeans during their "Grand Tours of Europe" in the early 1800's to be held up by the bandanistas of Andalucia from whom they "purchased" safe passage.  His fame and popularity became so great that King Fernando VII finally offered him a pardon in return for his working for the state, and allowed him to head a group of 60 mounted guards. A few years later he was killed in a gunfight while pursuing the bandit El Barbarello

It's common that people in remote, often impoverished areas out of necessity develop a strong resilience with a streak of fierce independence and a macho outlook on life: witness Greater Appalachia in the US (as defined in Woodward's book American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures in North America which posits the 11 separate cultural nations that make up the US - it rings true to me). Or in the British Isles witness Ireland and the moors of Scotland. And witness many other places throughout the world.  Maybe that independent and macho spirit is why the love of bullfighting developed in the mountains of Ronda, Andalucia, and much of Spain.

Town square, Grazalema

For those that can't enlarge the photo above it reads, in part:

"The village of Grazalema has a large number of "noble houses" all along its old quarter. 

"Most of them were built in the eighteenth century, and have arcades with half pediments at their tops. The windows are barred and dressed by colorful pots of geraniums, and have large cedar doors made with steel nails, and decorated with the most varied artistic carvings. All these details give a post Renaissance air to the houses, something very typical form this village. 

"Some other houses of this village were built during the nineteenth century by cloth manufacturers. Their coat of arms show their pertinence to the Brotherhood of the Santisimo Sacramento (with Ciboriums carved at the lintels), the Brotherhood of Veracruz, or the Brotherhood of La Santa Caridad; many of them are topped with the symbol of the Virgin Mary, other with a broken pediment and a shield with a ducal crown."

See about Spanish brotherhoods here or here - they are integral to the history of Spanish culture, but I couldn't find one simple explanation that encompassed all the aspects.

After reading the above sign I noticed that indeed, there are a large number of broken pediments, barred windows, and strong doors both in the town and in my photos - the signatures of the past. Like in many places where society has broken down with a widened gap between the "privileged ones" and the "unprotected", those with relative privilege barricaded themselves from the "others".

Perhaps history doesn't act like a pendulum, swinging between this and that, gradually coming to rest at neutral. Perhaps it acts like a teeter totter rotating on a fulcrum, with forces of nature pulling an end down. That would require diligence and hard work to maintain a neutral equally-advantaged position. In Spain, history seemed to seesaw between the rule of harsh Moorish rulers and the harsh "Catolic Kings" with a few periods of enlightened calm and balance where Moors, Christians, and Jewish where coexisted to make one of the most advanced areas in Europe during the Middle Ages (more about that when we get to Cordoba, next).

Nowadays the above teeter totter image is troubling.  With the increasing inequality and resurgent concentrations of power and wealth coalescing around a few powerful dictators, political oligarch wanna-be's, oligarchs who control capital, and the wealthiest 1% , with the growth and radicalization of the anti-tax, anti-government, and libertarian movement interested only in their own greed, everything on the teeter totter's beam seems to be beginning to slide towards the increasingly weighted lowering end.Is the new era threatening to resemble feudal Europe ? It happened to Greece. And Rome. And Moorish Spain. And during the industrialization of Europe.  And the pre-World War I  European/American world. Is it happening now?

Compare the total wealth of the bottom 40% of US households with the 4 richest people
from http://metrocosm.com/wealth-vs-income-inequality/

A local example in Seattle: The US federal government supplied trillions of dollars to help blunt the economic affect of the pandemic. The portion given to hospitals was far less, but like in other areas of the economy, that was siphoned to the richest hospitals, to the coffers of a few hospital systems that had significant capital reserves and political power, while their own staff and other needy hospitals suffered. Many of those more needy hospitals will likely not survive, making the broken US healthcare system even worse.

It requires diligence and hard work to maintain a teeter totter in balance.

The memories of the nationalism that led to the horrors of World War II and the stark memories of the deprivations of the Great Depression made many acutely aware that we're all in this together, and aware that it works better when nations and people with divergent needs and perspectives seek for ways to cooperate while working towards their varied self-interests. That enabled the post World War II Euro/American world to become as rich as it became, and enabled it to help the developing and third worlds struggle for better lives. Those memories that prompted the balance are quickly fading. What will the new world that's approaching be like? It requires diligence and hard work to maintain a teeter totter in balance.

But enough of that shit! Let's get on with our trip.


Zahara de la Sierra

We drove down the mountains (hills to me, being from the mountainous American Northwest) to Zahara de la Sierra.

The tinted windows of our van distorted the color

Zahara de la Sierra is much like Grazalema (though I'm sure a local would point out many differences).  Both are stunning. The whole area is on what had been the fluctuating edge of between Moorish Spain and Christian Spain. But Zahara is lower, nearer the mountain passes. So Zahara has more ruins of significant old fortifications.

This article contains much more about Zahara de la Sierra, or as it was called prior to the 1970's:  Zahara de los Membrillos.

In the distance: the Church of Santa María de la Mesa, built between the 17th and e8th centuries

Months after we got home, after the pandemic was ravaging Spain, we were reminded of Zahara when we read that they had devised their own approach to safety. I haven't yet heard how well it worked in the end.

Biking the Via Verde de la Sierra

Fortunately the next day was perfect for cycling. The rain was gone and the temperature wasn't hot.

Heather drove us to Olvera (another of the while towns) where the route starts (or ends). We didn't have time to look around the town, but from the little we saw and from things I've read since I think that's where I might choose if I were to spend a night or a day in one of the white towns. I especially like the pictures that scroll across the first page of Olvera's website.

The Via Verde de la Sierra is an easy bike route on an old abandon railway grade; its grades are consistently very gentle - it's quite usable by the entire family.  (Incidentally, some of the rails removed from it were used in some of the early construction of Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.)

A great website by its sponsoring foundation, with lots of information about it is here and a downloadable leaflet with map is here..

There are some videos on youtube, including one showing a few highlights without explanation (3:45 length) here,  my favorite is in Spanish but with English subtitles (4:32 length) here, an 8:25 long collection of still shots of a father and young son's trip made into a video here, and a lengthy video (14:13 long) featuring a group having a great time on the trail here (they must have had a camera drone along with them).

In short it is 36 km long, crosses 4 viaducts, runs through 30 tunnels, has 5 stations to rest at (3 or 4 of which have facilities, 3 have cafe's, and a couple even have accommodations.)

Heather from Hike + Bike the Sierras unloaded our two bikes and fitted them to us. They were both electric (a surprise and a first for us to try).

Here I apologize. When walking I take far too many pictures. But when biking I can't be bothered by them. So following is just a taste of the route. If I were younger and were intending to ride hard for many years I'd definitely get a GoPro video camera. Some of the commuter cyclists in Seattle use them front and back for, among other things, evidence if they get hit by a car's driver. But most just enjoy making videos of their trips and exploits - and they serve well in demonstrating the need and advocating for roadway improvements for bike safety.

A panorama of some of the country side we passed through.

Here's Ginny riding across one of the bridges.

We periodically passed, or were passed by, a large group of riders. We kept leap frogging past each other during the entire trip.

At Zaframagón there is a large colony (perhaps the largest in Europe) of  Griffin Vultures - a huge bird with wingspans between 240 & 280 cm - 7.8 & 9.2 feet  - nesting in the nearby crags.

Most of the tunnels are short and don't need lighting. A few are long enough that lighting systems have been installed (they usually require riders to push a button to turn them on.) The tunnel below is very long and curves so you can't see the end ... without the lighting it would be pitch black.

For the most part the lighting is very dim. By riding in the center you can "feel" the slight crown to the roadbed. But when passing an oncoming rider or walker and trying to get closer to the edge it becomes a bit more concerning and the slight crown feels like its drawing you to the edge. In Idaho in the US I've ridden through long former railroad tunnels that had drainage ditches on each side that you had to stay away from. You needed a good headlight. Remembering those, I was always nervous about getting too close to the edge of any dark tunnel. But happily the roadbed here was relatively flat with only minor gentle swales for drainage in a few places.

Shortly before the end of the trip at Puerto Serrano one of the tunnels is blocked and one has to ride up a short climb on the detour around it.  Anyone who cycles knows that you try to take advantage of any flat area to build up momentum to help take you up any steep hill, especially on gravel or earth where you have less traction.

Just when we were trying to gain momentum a goat appeared on a hillside above us. Then another, and another. Uncertain, we slowed down. We were already beginning the climb then they decided to bound and leap and slide down the hillside onto the trail. A whole herd of them. We stopped. Quickly. After sauntering along the trail a short distance they disappeared down the other side. Our bikes were out of gear to easily start back up on a hill, but we made it.

At Puerto Serrano while having lunch we met both Heather (who was there to pick us up and take us home) and the other group of cyclists (from Scandinavia). To our surprise Heather and they knew each other. They had rented their bikes from her for a multi-day ride.

The guy at the counter didn't know English, but we both pulled out our iphones to use the screens as translators. We were able to have a brief conversation. The modern world really helps in some instances.

On the way back to Ronda we passed some interesting signs - I had noticed them in a number of locations in Spain, enough to make me wonder why the warning needed to be made.

A Third Day?

We had only planned two days in Ronda, but we wished that we had a third day to work in visits to the following:

Roman Ruins at Acinipo

Prior to the establishment of Ronda during medieval and Moorish times the largest city in the area was Acinipo. It had been established by the Phoenicians and eventually was ruled by Carthage. After Rome destroyed Carthage in the Punic Wars in 208 BC it became a Roman city. It was an important enough city to have a population of 5,000 at the time, Roman theater (photo below), a coliseum for Roman blood sports, and even the authority to mint its own coins. Not much is left today besides a portion of the theater, some foundations, and various stones. An excellent explanation of the town, its archaeological site,  and its area is here.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons © Jan Hazevoet under share alike license
at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/

An excellent map of the major Roman roads in Iberia is here. Notice the important cities of Cordoba (which we will visit next) and Augusta Emerita (currently named Mérida) which we will visit later - the site of impressive Roman ruins and a major museum of Roman antiquities.

La Pileta Cave Paintings

Many of the tour books highlight the La Pileta paleolitic cave paintings near Benaojan. If we had more time we would have definitely gone there to see the 20,000 year old paleolitic cave paintings, probably on a bike tour.

Biking more

I might mention here: biking is an excellent way to tour while maintaining social distancing and getting outside. You can experience so much more by biking than from a vehicle. And during the coronavirus pandemic biking is surging in popularity. There are even shortages of bikes developing in parts of the US. All this may portend well for the future of cycling tourism.

Newer Ronda

Except when getting to and from the train station we didn't get into the newer parts of Ronda. If we were there for longer we would have tried.

Off to Cordoba

We caught a morning train to our next stop, Cordoba. There we might even meet up with Seneca, the great Roman philosopher, statesman, and writer who was originally from Cordoba.

To return to Part 1 - Overview of the trip, click here.
Up next: Cordoba. I'll post a link here when that report is done.

Part 4a - Ronda

Continued from Part-3b - Granada: The Alhambra

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A Pleasant Surprise

When planning our trip we looked for a  place in Andalucia to visit near the middle of our trip to provide a change from cities. One requirement: we wanted to bike in the countryside on a route that was interesting but not too challenging for our 75 year old lungs and legs.

We began searching at Spain's Vías Verdes website that features more than 100 "greenways" - bike (and walking) routes that Spain has built on 7,600 kilometers of abandoned railroads. The lengths of the options varied from 1.5 km to 128 km. It took awhile, but we eventually settled on the Via Verde de la Sierra,  a 36 km route from Olvera to Puerto Serrano, both near to Ronda. Its features included both mountains and farming countryside, 4 viaducts, 30 tunnels, stations that had been turned into facilities serving cyclists, and it passes by possibly the largest griffon vulture colony in Europe. It should keep our juices running for part of a day.

At first glance Ronda seemed to be the easiest place to use as a home base. It is easy to get to by rail or bus. It is large enough to be interesting for a few days. It's near the small white towns, so we could visit them during a day trip. Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles had both lived there for a couple of years (ah, that's the way I would really like to travel ... stay a few years in each place and get to know it and its people). A summary of their fondness for Ronda is in this blog.

Orson Welles liked Ronda so much that be decided to have his ashes buried in Ronda. As he said “A man does not belong to the place where he was born, but where he chooses to die”. This blog about Orson Welles and Ronda has a link to a BBC presentation he did in 1955 about the Basque country in Spain.  It brought back childhood memories of things I had read about and saw in the movies when I was completing elementary school at the time. I would think that the area around Ronda must have been similar.

Although the reviews we got from various people about Ronda were a mixed bag, we were very pleasantly surprised. We're glad we decided to stay in Ronda. There was more than enough of interest. We could easily have added a third day here. But as we had planned, we were there for only 2 days. We spent between  a third and a half of one of those days touring the countryside and the nearby white towns, and about the same amount on the second day cycling the Via Verde de la Sierra. The rest of the time we explored Ronda and its history.

Early on we decided we could bike independently and not need a guide; we'd just need bikes and a way to get to/from Olvera and Puerto Serrano (apx. 34 km and 59 km respectively). We researched the web and found Hike+Bike the Sierras. It worked out perfectly. Heather took us on a driving tour to the white towns Grazalema and Zahra de la Sierra. On the next day they drove us and the bikes to Olvera, then after about 3 hours picked us up in Puerto Serrano. More about the white towns and the bike trip in the next part 4b.

When we first arrived in Ronda at the train station a gaggle of passengers gathered at what seemed to be the taxi stand. No taxi was in sight. We waited. None appeared. Several of the passengers got on their cell phone to various taxi companies. None of us could speak Spanish and the taxi people could only speak Spanish. Confusion. No taxis showed up. I called our hotel;  they called the taxi company. Finally some taxis arrived.

Our hotel was the Hotel San Gabriel in the center of the Moorish Quarter. The inside retained its mansion ambiance with tile floors and heavy wooden trim and doors contrasting with white walls. On the walls were pictures and mementos of various celebrities who had stayed there, most appeared to be in the 1950's to '60's.  The breakfast room was small, people had to reserve their sitting the night before. They had a great buffet, but even better, one could also order a fresh cooked breakfast.

The hotel had a typical Spanish interior courtyard.  But late in the day this courtyard was crowded ... it was totally filled with a tangle of bikes. It must have been "interesting" pulling your bike out in the morning getting to it then untangling all of the pedals, chains, and handlebars. But it was a great secure resolution of what to do with all the bikes. It explained the reason that when making reservations we had found so many places full, and why there had been some uncertainty whether there would be appropriately sized rental bikes available. Our visit had unexpectedly coincided with  a major bicycle-related charity ride happening in Ronda the days we were there. It seemed like thousands of spandex-clad cyclists from all over were on the roads in and around Ronda.

An Overview of Ronda

Tilted aerial perspective of Ronda  -  From Google Earth annotated by Lee

Aerial view Legend:
     The Mercadillo Quarter is the newer part of Ronda
     The Moorish Quarter is the older center of Ronda isolated by its cliffs, the gorge, and its walls. 
     A = Bull ring
     B = Puente Nueva (New Bridge) - the iconic bridge that appears in many photos of Ronda
     (El Tajo gorge that separates the Moorish Quarter from the rest of Ronda extends from B to D)
     C = Casa de Rey Moro (The "Water Mine" providing access to the water in the base of the gorge)
     D = Puente Viejo (Old Bridge) and below that the Arab Bridge (also called Roman Bridge)
     E = The Alcazaba (only remnants are left)
     F =  Iglesia del Espititu Santo  (the fortress-like church built immediately after Ronda's conquest)
     G = The Almocábar Gate
     H = Plaza Ruedo Alameda
     I  =  Network of trails to the bottom of the mouth of the gorge

Puente Nueva and the Mouth of the Gorge

Everyone remotely familiar with Ronda has seen photos of its New Bridge (Puente Nueva) that spans the sheer gorge that separates the old Moorish quarter from the rest of the city. (It's appropriately named only if you consider a bridge completed in 1793 to be new.)

On one of our explorations we walked down the trails into the mouth of the gorge.

Puente Nueva (The New Bridge) and the mouth of El Tajo gorge

Panorama looking west from the south end of Puenta Nueva showing the trail to the bottom of the mouth of the gorge

From the south (Moorish Quarter) end of the Puente Nueva, walk along Calle Tenorio to a small park. The trail starts there as a paved pathway with steps that switch-back down (item I in the above map.).

Part way down are several popular viewpoints where photos fill visitors' hard drives and websites.

Further down, the path becomes packed earth. It branches in several directions and passes by remnants of the Moor's outer defensive walls and gates.

Circumnavigate the El Tajo Gorge

After walking down to the mouth of the El Tajo gorge and then back up, you can either sit down to drowsily read through this blog, or you can with more vigor circumnavigate the gorge, and in the process, see the three bridges that span it.

It's surprising - or perhaps unsurprising: On the web there are many mistaken identities where a picture of one bridge of the three is misidentified as another. The best summary of the three bridges that I've seen on the web is here. It has excellent photos and explanations about all three bridges.

We've already looked at the newest bridge, the Puenta Nueva - the New Bridge. It's the highest and most famous; building it took 43 years from 1751 until 1793. It replaced another bridge at the same spot which had only taken 6 years to build shortly before; it had collapsed with about 50 people on it. As the old safety saying says, speed kills.

To see the other two bridges  walk down the narrow winding street Calle Cuesta de Santo Domingo, past where it's closed to auto traffic, and continue along its twisting curves down to the Old Bridge.

Casa del Rey Moro

During the walk stop at the Casa del Rey Moro. It contains a steep, dark, damp stairway cut into the cliffs. It seems like a mine shaft but it's a narrow crevice in the cliffs protected and hidden from the outside by masonry walls. It descends 200 feet to the water in the gorge. 

As the Casa's del Rey Moro's website explains, in 1485, during Ferdinand and Isabella's campaign against Grenada, they laid siege to Ronda. They finally were able to break in and interdict Ronda's source of water. An already greatly weakened and devastated Ronda (more about that later) surrendered in days.

A sign at the entrance warns of its conditions - dark humid slippery steep steps, equivalent to a 20 story building down and then back up (there is no other way back). We passed a few people on our way down who were turning back in retreat.

At the bottom you can appreciate how the gorge formed such an effective defensive barrier to the old town. By looking at the reflection in the water you can see the buildings at the top of the gorge. And on the way back up you can imagine the slaves' lives.

Views
Shortly before reaching the final switchbacks down to the Old Bridge there is a viewpoint with an almost 180 degree view to sweeping from, on the left, the newer part of Ronda (the Mercadillo Quarter) and the Old Bridge, past the fields southeast of Ronda towards the Sierra de las Nieves mountains between Ronda and Marbella on the Mediterranean coast, to on the right, the southern tip of Ronda's Moorish Quarter.

Panorama looking to the southeast

From the viewpoint you can look to the south beyond the Arco de Felipe V (The Arch of Phillip V) to one of the towers on the old Moorish walls and beyond that to the Iglesia del Espititu Santo.

The Bridges
After the collapse of the original bridge at the site of the New Bridge (Peunte Nueva) in 1741, this became a more important route into town. The Arch of Phillip V was constructed in 1741-1742 to replace an older and smaller Moorish arch and its walls and tower.

Philip V was the Philip V of the War of the Spanish Succession. His potential inheritance of several thrones became the lit fuse of a power struggle between the Hapsburgs, the Bourbons, the remnants of the Holy Roman Empire, England, France, and most of Europe. One of its many results: Philip V became king of a united Spain minus some of its possessions.

The road winds down from the arch to the Puente Viejo (the Old Bridge) on which I'm standing. It was built in 1616. Prior to that people had to continue winding steeply down to an even older bridge.

From the Old Bridge you can look down to the older Arab Bridge (also mysteriously called the Roman Bridge although it has noting to do with the Romans - it was built much after their time)
A video of these old bridges in on youtube here.

From the oldest bridge you can look up to see the Old Bridge:

On part of the walking route between the Old Bridge and the older bridge you can chose to walk on very old steps, or newer steps, or let each leg independently walk on whichever it chooses.

Various walls, towers, archways, and doorways are on the east side of the Moorish Quarter and in, above, and south of the areas of the two bridges. Most of them not as well known as other sites in Ronda. If we had stayed in Ronda for a third day we would have explored them for a few hours. You can read about them here, and along with the other walls and gates of old Ronda, here, and here.

After you walk back up to the Old Bridge you can continue walking up on the east (new town) side of the gorge to complete the circumnavigation. In the mid 1970's the Jardines de Cuenca or de la Mina was built, a nicely landscaped series of gardens and terraces overlooking the gorge on its east side.

Moorish Quarter & Its Defenses

There is a map of the remaining Arabic walls (murallas) and gates (puertas) of Ronda (I believe by Tourismoderonda) on Google's My Maps (an image of it is below). It can be found as an interactive map here.

Map of walls and gates of old Ronda from Google's My Maps here

We met Washington Irving while visiting The Alhambra (see Part 3b: Granada: The Alhambra).
In his Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada in "Chapter XXII, Foray of the Moorish Alcaydes, and Battle of Lopera" he describes the people of 15th Century Ronda:

"Ronda was the most virulent nest of Moorish depredators in the whole border country. It was situated in the midst of the wild Serrania, or chain of mountains of the same name, which are uncommonly lofty, broken, and precipitous. It stood on an almost isolated rock, nearly encircled by a deep valley, or rather chasm, through which ran the beautiful river called Rio Verde. The Moors of this city were the most active, robust, and warlike of all the mountaineers, and their very children discharged the crossbow with unerring aim. They were incessantly harassing the rich plains of Andalusia; their city abounded with Christian captives, who might sigh in vain for deliverance from this impregnable fortress. Such was Ronda in the time of the Moors, and it has ever retained something of the same character, even to the present day. Its inhabitants continue to be among the boldest, fiercest, and most adventurous of the Andalusian mountaineers, and the Serrania de Ronda is famous as the most dangerous resort of the bandit and the contrabandista."

How true does that ring? Was that part of why macho bullfighting developed so thoroughly in Ronda and why Ernest Hemingway liked the countryside and culture around it?

In "Chapter XXX, Siege of Ronda" Irving describes the siege of Ronda vividly.

Unfortunately for the Moors, fortunately for the Christians, the Moorish ruler and many of his soldiers were still en route home from a victory over another town when the siege began. He could not break through the encircling forces:

"While the marques was thus pressing the siege with the generous thought of soon delivering his companions-in-arms from the Moorish dungeons, far other were the feelings of the alcayde, Hamet el Zegri. He smote his breast and gnashed his teeth in impotent fury as he beheld from the mountain-cliffs the destruction of the city. Every thunder of the Christian ordnance seemed to batter against his heart. He saw tower after tower tumbling by day, and various parts of the city in a blaze at night. “They fired not merely stones from their ordnance,” says a chronicler of the times, “but likewise great balls of iron cast in moulds, which demolished everything they struck. They threw also balls of tow steeped in pitch and oil and gunpowder, which, when once on fire, were not to be extinguished, and which set the houses in flames. Great was the horror of the inhabitants: they knew not where to fly for refuge: their houses were in a blaze or shattered by the ordnance; the streets were perilous from the falling ruins and the bounding balls, which dashed to pieces everything they encountered. At night the city looked like a fiery furnace; the cries and wailings of the women between the thunders of the ordnance reached even to the Moors on the opposite mountains, who answered them by yells of fury and despair.'"  

One of the major Moorish fortifications of Ronda was the Alcazaba. Not much is left. The information sign says:

"Partially destroyed during the siege of Ronda in 1485 and subsequently, by French troops in the War of Independence (1812), the building suffered its most recent damage at the beginning of the 20th Century as a result of widening the Street of Imágense and the construction of the Castillo School.

"What remains today still contains a large part of the original Moorish structure, although this has been obscured by redressing of its walls and subsequent building work. At first sight it appears to be a fortified construction of the 14th Century but in all likelihood its origins are far earlier, We know that it already existed in the 11th Century.

"Its position gives it the greatest importance on the whole of the city of Ronda, as it takes advantage of a rocky spur situated on the south, adapted with at least two lines of walls, of which the outer one can be seen. Inside, the castle itself was protected by a strong towered wall, the keep being situated in the easterly side facing the city.

"The entire entrance to the city could be controlled from the Alcazaba and the two quarters, forming, along with the now disappeared Las Imágenes Gate, a practically unconquerable defensive system vulnerable only to siege."

Partial remains of the Alcazaba below more modern construction

The Iglesia del Espititu Santo (Church of the Holy Spirit) was started in 1485, immediately after the Christian conquest. It was built on the site of one of the major destroyed defensive towers and the principle mosque of Ronda.

The church was built is a defensive manner to try to ensure its safety. Maybe that was wise because of the mix of the Catholic treatment of the Moors and Ronda's "virulent nest of Moorish depredators" as described by Washington Irving.

It was a bad time.

"On May 25, 1566, Philip II decreed the use of the Arabic language (written or spoken) illegal, required that doors to homes remain open on Fridays to verify that no Muslim Friday prayers were conducted, and levied heavy taxes on Morisco trades. This led to several rebellions, one of them in Ronda under the leadership of Al-Fihrey. Al-Fihrey's soldiers defeated the Spanish army sent to suppress them under the leadership of Alfonso de Aguilar. The massacre of the Spaniards prompted Phillip II to order the expulsion of all Moriscos in Ronda. (quoted from Wikipedia, here)

Upon the above light notes, let's go to dinner ... we can eat in the Plaza Ruedo Alameda just past the southern walls.

Immediately south of the former Alcazar a portion of the southern walls remains, including the 13th century gate: Puerta de Almocábar tucked between two towers.

Instead of walking through the Puerta de Almocábar we can either drive or walk through the adjacent
Carlos V gate dating from the 16th Century. And if the beer in a local bar wasn't enough we can grab a drink of water like these guys are doing.

The story of the gates is here and here.

There are stairways to the tops of the wall and its gates. From there we had a good view of the large Plaza Ruedo Alameda.

The plaza is surrounded by restaurants and bars. Although there were other tourists like us, many of the people in the plaza and the area surrounding it seemed to be residents from nearby.

There was a large and very children's active play area.  Public spaces are needed and highly used where, like many places in Spain, most people live happily without private yards.

We tend to eat earlier than most Spaniards, so the restaurant was fairly empty when we got there, but was very busy by the time we left.  (We had one of the best meals we had in Spain while eating here.)

The life in Spain's plazas was one of our favorite things about Spain. Adults would gather and socialize while their kids played. Then gradually all would move to the tables to eat, followed by more socializing and playing.

There was a soccer ball in the plaza that seemed to be communal. We watched various groups of kids playing with it at different times.  A family that I'm guessing was from Scandinavia was at a table near us. Their kid kept begging them to let him go play. Eventually they assented and he quickly made friends and joined in kicking the soccer ball around.

But enough of history. It's time to relax and have fun, do some light touring, and bike on the Via Verde de la Sierra.

But first...
To relax for a bit, listen to this 5 minute long piano recital outdoors alongside a lake .

Last year Hunter and his "In A Landscape" team held a series of outdoor piano concerts set in remote places throughout Oregon (much of Eastern Oregon is dry and has rocky landscapes similar to Spain). Last year LA Times ran a good article about it here.

This year, because of coronavirus, he's had to postpone the series. Hopefully the series will be back next year - or even sooner:  hopefully their app will develop to allow people to social distance while wandering in the landscape listening remotely.
And hopefully tourism will again help to weld the people of our small planet together.



To return to Part 1 - Overview of the Trip, click here.
Next: Part 4b - the White Towns and Biking the Via Verde de la Sierra - click here.