We Wish We Spoke German: Spain Part II: Ronda and the Pueblos Blancos

Our second stop on our journery across Andalucia was Ronda. Ronda is the largest of the "Pueblos Blancos", which are a series of "white villages" that are located in the Grazalema Mountains in the south of Spain. These villages also date back to Moorish rule, meaning they have narrow, winding streets typical of Islamic architecture. Every year, inhabitants of these towns whitewash their buildings creating a striking collection of white houses sitting in rolling hills of green landscapes. Many of these villages, including the two that we visited, sit dramatically atop steep cliffs for protection against attackers. The combination of these two characteristics make them well worth a visit!

Not the greatest picture, but you get the idea...

After a short drive from Granada, we arrived in Ronda around noon. The weather was a bit cloudy and rainy, so we took our time grabbing lunch and wandering through the tiny streets. After a while we reached the main bridge, which has views down from Ronda into the gorge and out onto the distant mountains. It's really steep!

It's really impressive how the backs of the houses are essentially flush with the cliff!

This is the famous bridge connecting the two sides of town. The drop is more than a football field long, and it is said that during the Spanish Civil War, prisoners were routinely rounded up and thrown from this point...

This was a view from the gorge back up at the bridge.

After admiring the views for a while, we walked across town to tour Plaza de Toros, the oldest bullfighting arena in Spain. We didn't actually see a bullfight (and I think we're glad we didn't) but it was really cool being able to walk into the ring and explore the tunnels where the bulls are kept. There was also a museum inside, so it's safe to say we know way more about bullfighting than we thought we ever would...

This is a spot where the matadors can quickly duck into for protection...

During the rest of our stay at Ronda, we had our best tapas yet at a local restaurant and really enjoyed strolling through the streets. Hemingway said the following about Ronda and he couldn't have been more right:

"There is one town that would be better than Aranjuez to see your first bullfight in if you are only going to see one and that is Ronda. That is where you should go if you ever go to Spain on a honeymoon or if you ever bolt with anyone. The entire town and as far as you can see in any direction is romantic background."

We saw this full rainbow on our walk to dinner!

We stayed in Ronda that night and then continued our drive west the following morning. The drive was not that easy. It only took a little over an hour, but we had to drive our tiny, manual rental car through the essentially one-lane roads of the mountain. This, along with a mountain-biking race, tour buses and motorcycles, made the drive a bit stressful.

Our view from the road...

The next village we were going to was Arco de la Frontera. This town still has "of the frontier" in it's name, which is a reference to it being a Christian-held town during the conflicts with Muslim rulers. Again, this white village was built on really steep terrain, which makes all the streets quite a hike. We only stopped by for a few hours to walk around before grabbing lunch (yes, tapas again) and getting back on the road.