ronda

On Wednesday, Mike and I drove with our friends, Jorge and Lindsay to Ronda. It was a narrow curvy highway up into the mountains. Ronda was one of the last Moorish strongholds before the Christians conquered the area. You can see why it was so difficult to take - just getting there would be difficult, then it sits atop huge cliffs. We walked across the bridge to both parts of the town. Another thing significant about Ronda, is that it is where bullfighting originated. We passed the bull ring. The illustrations in Ferdinand, the children's story are based on scenes in Ronda. Olive and cork trees, sheep and goats dot the vast hillsides.

We visited the Moorish Bath ruins, maybe dating back to around 800 AD. The Moors ruled the area between 700 and 1400. They washed in baths, pools of water and saunas, at the entrance to the city after traveling.

On the way home, we had a view of Gibraltar and even a glimpse of Africa across the sea.