Monday 11th March 2019
Our campsite is conveniently situated about a 30 minute walk away from the Puerta de Almocábar across the road from a small plaza, Ruedo Alameda where you can begin your visit to historic Ronda.
Ronda’s commanding position above the Tajo Gorge is spectacular and the town enjoys views over mountains of the Serranía de Ronda (Ronda Mountain Range) and the Sierra de las Nieves (Snow Mountain Range) Natural Park.
We enjoyed a villa holiday in rural Ronda about 15 years ago and have been looking forward to revisiting this delightful town.
Despite the large new hospital which opened in 2017, new tarmac roads and a few more new dwellings than we remember, the main historic centre of Ronda hasn’t really changed much and we were pleased that it has remained much of its charm and rural feel.
After walking around the remains of the Puerta de Almocabar we headed through the gate and around the eastern side of the town around the remains of the old town walls.
The remains of the ancient cobbled streets made walking quite interesting but the views were wonderful and we hardly met anyone on our walk.
We climbed towards the old bridge, Puente Viejo, with views up towards the new bridge area.
The Jardines De Cuenca are a pleasant relief from the effects of the extremely warm weather as you make the ascent towards the Plaza España, the Puente Nuevo and the Plaza de Toros, the main tourist areas.
The new bridge, Puente Nuevo, is closed to traffic between 10.00 and 13.30 but it is possible to admire the stunning views down the gorge in either direction at any time of the day.
For a charge you can descend the south western side of the gorge but I’m not sure what more you could view from here that you cannot from the bridge.
A short walk from here is the Plaza de Toros where you can visit the bull ring and soak up its history or pop into the tourist office. We didn’t as we had already visited all those years ago.
If you take a walk through the small park here, you will be able to enjoy even more views from the Mirador de Ronda.
Back across the new bridge we headed back out of Ronda towards the Puerta de Almocábar, our starting point, pausing at the beautiful Plaza Duquesa de Parcent, a wonderful peaceful square, to enjoy a break from the sun. We enjoyed a light tapa lunch as it is so tranquil here, far from the main throngs of tourists, apart from the occasional horse drawn carriage.
The town hall is situated here as is the convent de Clarisas de Santa Isabel de Los Angeles and the Church of Santa Maria la Mayor.
We then continued our walk back down past the remains of the Alcazaba and our uphill journey back to the campsite.
We would return later this evening though to sample the delights of the restaurant, Casa Maria just off the Plaza Ruedo Alameda.
