Ronda
Is one of those cities that seem to lie halfway between
reality and legend. Isolated in years gone by due
to its geographical reality, a city of bullfighters
and bandits, destination of personalities, whom, like
Rilke, were captivated by her, Ronda is today the
active head of an important administrative district
of Malaga in which it is possible to enjoy of a wide
repertoire of monuments.
The little Guadalevin runs through it dividing it
in two. Its riverbed, in a silent and age- old task,
has been perforating the one hundred metre, deep Tajo
that today is one of the distinguishing marks of the
city. On one side is the new Ronda, wide and bright,
with its historic bullring (bullfighting museum included);
on the other side, the older and more intimate Ronda,
of quiet palaces and churches and where we can admire
"La Plaza de la Duquesa de Parcent", which
is overlooked by the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria
de la Encarnación, a temple of complex architecture,
since on the remains of what once was an Arabic mosque,
rises the Gothic temple and the colossal, Renaissance
church. On this square, other outstanding buildings
are not missing; like the one that houses the Town
Hall, with a simple but beautiful and extremely long
balcony on its top floor. The styles and origins are
mixed in this white and artesan city: minaret towers
like the one of San Sebastián; palaces like
"El Mondragón", "La Casa
del Rey Moro" and "El Salvatierra";
Renaissance, Baroque, Gothic churches; the well- conserved,
ancient Arabic baths; the gates of the old walls like
the Arabic one of Almocabar, situated next the Renaissance
ones of Carlos V. All this complemented by beautiful
parks, bridges that overlook the abyss, fountains
like the one of "Los Ocho Canos", adjacent
to the Church of El Padre Jesús or by gates
like the ones of Felipe V.
Everything is an aesthetic enjoyment to the passer-
by. But apart from the historic walk through its beautiful
streets, the surroundings of Ronda, situated in what
we could call "Humid Andalucia", offers
the visitor endless alternatives: rugged mountainous
country, with peaks, caves and deep cliffs in which
to practise potholing (the deep fissure of Gesm, for
example, is considered the third deepest in the world,
with its more than 1.100 metres in depth); extensive
forests of conifers, in which we find that fir tree
so outstanding and endemic that is the Spanish Fir
tree, grouped within the Natural Park of "La
Sierra de las Nieves"; "Sierra Bermeja",
just as much a refuge for the Pine trees; "Sierra
Crestellina", paradise for the Griffon vulture
and a great variety of birds of prey. Places, needless
to say, which will delight enthusiasts of nature and
or rural tourism. Ronda celebrates in September the
festivities of "Pedro Romero", with the
colourful, goyesque bullfight and the flamenco festival.
But whichever festivity means an event of some importance
in this city: the majestic Holy Week, the feasts of
la Reconquista or "la Romería de Ntra.
Sra. De la Cabeza", on the second Sunday in
June.
Antequera Villages
Axarquía Villages
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Valle del Guadalhorce Villages
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