Ronda

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Rhonda

Saturday today and Anna and Linda have very kindly offered to take me to a town called Rhonda which is one of the white villages. These are villages which are painted completely white high up in the mountains. Although we were supposed to leave early due to the amount of walking the previous day we actually left rather late. A fantastically winding road took us up to Rhonda, a drive which lasted about 1 hour and we luckily found a free parking place rather quickly. After a walk down the main shopping street we ended up at the plaza de Toros which is a large and very famous Bull ring where the two main stars are two brothers who have continued the family tradition of bull fighting which goes back centuries. A little past this is a viewing platform extending over steep cliff walls and giving spectacular views of not only the surrounding countryside and vineyards but also the bridge, an amazing architectural piece built in roman style over a deep and steep sided gorge. After taking the obligatory tourist photos we wandered across the bridge past a hotel tettering on the edge which was an historic building run by the government and they have places like this all over spain. Incredibly expensive though!

Walked through the older Moorish side of town down steep winding sides and ended up at the the moros del rey, mines of Kings. 4 euro to enter was very good value and included some early 20^th century gardens at the top and then a descent into the rocks. Although this place is very fmous, michelle Obama visited here a few years before, there was a surprising lack to tourists and health and safety was not existent. A winding staircase of over 300 slippery and steep stairs passed by various cavernous rooms which were used to store munitions and the sala del silencio where the shape ensures that if two people stand in oppositie corners whisper into the wall they are able to hear each other clearly but another person standing in the depression in the middle of the room will be able to hear nothing! Obviously you need 3 people to be able to to this effectively though! At the bottom of the strairs you explode out into the sunlight at river level with the walls of the gorge towering above you. Apparently this was used by Christian prisoners to carry water up from the river and a secret escape route for the Moorish kings, the town held out until the late 1400s.

Wandered down to find a good tapas place recommended by the lonely planet but clearly other people had the same idea and it was packed and found a small tapas place just inside the walls of the very old town in the sunshine where there was enough tapas for 3 people for only 10 euro. Great deal and good food! Wandered back up through the town to the car and departed on a different route down to Marbella. Greatviews all the way down and finished at a town called casares which commanded spectacular views of the coast, Gibraltar and Africa. Another white washed town almost ignored by tourists but don’t think I would like to live there as no car access and a lot of going up and down narrow winding streets. Amazing place but not so great for more elderly people!

Sunday obviously the traditional day of rest so spent the day very chilled out trying to catch up on my blog and applying for jobs at the same time. Enjoying great food and company. Onto the next port of call Cordoba!!!

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