Ronda, the City of Dreams

As soon as we had a free weekend I insisted on visiting a special place in Andalucía, which is the town of Ronda. I had seen many photos of this incredible place and I wanted to walk on its streets as soon as it was possible. Its location is very unique as it is situated in a mountainous area on a top of a cliff and it’s split into two by the River Guadaleyín. Over the centuries the river carved out a 100m deep canyon, the El Tejo.

Over the El Tejo there’s an amazing bridge, the Puente Nuevo which is the most known feature of Ronda. The bridge connects the old and the new, the historic centre and the modern part of the town. This place is famous worldwide for its dramatic views and the El Tejo. It cannot possibly be described with words, have a look at the photos we took.   

At the beginning of the 20^th century a famous German poet Rainer Maria Rilke used to take holidays here. She wrote these famous lines about the town: "He buscado por todas partes la ciudad soñada, y al fin la he encontrado en Ronda" ("I have sought everywhere the city of my dreams, and I have finally found it in Ronda"). Since then Ronda is known as ‘the city of dreams’.

Lots of other famous artists came here for inspiration for example Orson Welles or Ernest Hemmingway. The latter wrote a book about the Spanish Civil War called ‘For whom the bell tolls’ and one famous scene described in the novel took place here in Ronda.

The scenery around the town.

This small town is famous for another reason: it is the birthplace of modern bullfighting. It happened here in Ronda’s bullring that the Romaro family, the son, the father and the grandfather transformed the ‘slaughter of bulls’ into ‘art’, instead of fighting from horseback they started to fight from the ground.

Nowadays the bullring is used only once a year. At the beginning of September there’s a festival called the Feria Goyesca, a special bullfight spectacle when the fighters and some of the audience as well dress up in costumes worn in the time of the famous Spanish painter, Goya. The design of the costumes is based on his sketches about the life in this region. You can read about this more here.

Have a look at some photos I took in the Old Town of Ronda.

Siesta.

Good night, Ronda.