Blogs from Ronda, Andalusia, Spain, Europe

Vous le savez bien, on ne peut rester en place... Il fait beau... et ce week end on voudrait profiter de ce magnifique soleil pour retourner une fois encore à Ronda. Ce n'est pas loin, on y a un très bon hôtel et qui sait que cela nous réservera de nouvelles surprises... Eh oui... il faisait beau... samedi... et dans la nuit la pluie s'est mise à tomber... bonne nouvelle car l'Espagne se trouve dans une sècheresse qui ne lui plaît pas du tout pour son agriculture... Et pourtant les paysages parcourus sont souvent bien verts.... Que faisons nous ? je donne l'idée à JJ de partir tout de même mais par la grand route, la A397 (route rouge) qui tourne et tourne encore mais ce sera moins dangereux que par la A369 (route jaune) car ... read more

Nous voici en Andalousie depuis deux semaines... et l'envie d'aller prospecter plus loin nous démange déjà... Nous ferons cela plusieurs fois lors de notre séjour ici car on a jamais fini d'explorer l'Andalousie... Ronda sera notre première excursion... nous y passerons une nuit de façon à pouvoir faire la route à notre aise et admirer tant de choses sur notre chemin. Le soleil après s'être caché plusieurs jours a décidé de nous accompagner en voyage... il se lève de bon pied mardi et c'est ainsi que nous pourrons voir de magnifiques paysages tout au loin à plusieurs endroits de notre périple. La route n'est pas des plus facile pour JJ... car tournants il y a... même en quantité... et nous montons en altitude venant de la mer pour arriver à Ronda (723m d'altitude) tout en passant ... read more

Today we decided that we’d rent a car for the week to better explore everything around us, plus transport to the airport is ridulously expensive. However, due to my inability to use a manual and experiencing the pleasures of narrow roads winding through the mountains an automatic was our only viable option. FYI automatics are way more expensive to rent than manauls. Goal 2 for return: become proficient in manaul cars including on hills. We found a rental place that wasn’t going to cost us an arm and a leg and decided we could walk. ADVENTURE!! The beginning of the journey was spot on but after a wrong turn, entering a gated community and freaking a realitor out that we were burglarizing the area, hopes were low we’d actually find this rental place. We got to ... read more

There are a few things that cannot escape you in Spain. A house or building may be ‘run-down’ but you can bet your bottom dollar that the door will be immaculate. Another are that the window edges will be painted to have them stand out. They usually have flowers adorning them too. The paths, squares and street roads will be cobble stone with a patterned design for sure. The hit-you-in-your-face or should I say stomach is that they definitely do close down from 2-3 o’clock to 8; even later for some. Also, the variety and number of seating benches available for use. Trees and plants are aplenty in every street. The not-so-good stand-out is that many, many people smoke; old and young. Today we walked various ‘walking routes’ as suggested by a book given to us ... read more

The day began very bumpily indeed. We were up at 5 and reached the train station by 6 for the 6.45 train to Ronda which turned out ‘not’ to be a train but a bus to Santa Ana about halfway to Ronda and ‘then’ it was a train into Ronda. Caused the heart to speed up when, due to language constraints and no English signage, we have out tickets checked and are told, “No, you must take the bus first.” The positive was that we didn’t have to go to the bus station, which is located in another location. As the train pulled into Ronda I saw that there were literally hundreds of people of all ages standing on the platform very close to the sides of the train waiting to greet me. As the automatic ... read more