Feb 22
Today was a scheduled housekeeping day, so that meant time
to get out of town day. The sun has
arrived back in full force and it was a good day to go out exploring. Today’s adventure took us to Ronda, a place
we had been to about 3 ½ years ago (twice) when we were first in Spain.
Some pics along the way there:
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| We will be travelling along that large slash across the way |
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| Our little Spanish Flamenco Red chariot |
The objective for today was to find a view of the Puente Nuevo
(new bridge, built in the 1700’s) from down below and across the valley. We had tried in the past to find the route to
it but were not successful. Our GPS
could not cope with the road construction that was going on. This time, I had a much better take on how to
find the way there. True to form, the
GPS still had trouble finding her way on Spanish roads. She eventually deposited us below some old Roman
walls, taking us on what she called “trails” and one-way narrow streets.
What a find though.
We would never have made our way there on our own. This whole area has been inhabited since
about 700 BC, so there is potentially lots to see. All along the ridge are walls from Roman/Arab
times, originally built to fortify the city.
People still live and work along and behind the walls. We were led by GPS to the base of the walls,
were we found a great little restaurant called Bar Casa Clemente, which according
to the plaque on the wall had been around since the Arab occupation of the 1575. Today there is a restaurant, spa, and hammam on
the site. The food was great, plentiful
and not expensive. The décor was very
Spanish/Arabic, with exposed wood pole ceilings and paying homage to the age of
the building, where you would normally find windows, they had areas of the old
walls exposed and up lit. The had unique
menus, they were chunks of 6 X 6 posts with the menu applied on each side.
After a break there, we were on our way to find our ultimate
destination, and I was more determined than ever, to actually find it this
time. After taking us on a continued tour
of the some of the older sections of town, I finally found the landmark that I
was looking for. Next to find the actual
road we needed. Signs are not prolific
in these places, but after some deduction, I figured out that what initially
looked like an alleyway, was probably actually the road I was looking for.
Spanish small town travels: 1 vehicle, 2 vehicle and 3
vehicle streets:
Highlight the above link, click on "Go to....."
Off we went, dodging parked cars and walkers, past olive
orchards, visiting with dogs along the way, wrong turns taken, down steep
inclines and tight turns, across pavement, dirt roads and stone bed roads to a
small rock scrabble parking space to the viewpoint I was in search of. We had found our spot.
Next it was a short or long (relatively) hike, depending on
your skills and abilities, to reach a good spot to get some pics. I took the short version, as my knees can not
handle the uneven ground and the steep incline.
Bill chose the longer route.
This is the view I was after:
Always looking for new sites we travelled home on a
different route. We headed towards El
Burgeo, crossing though some distinctly different looking terrain along the
way. In our travels today, we went from sea-level,
across 3 mountain passes, the highest being 1150 meters, down into valleys and
back to sea level again. Basically, we
were travelling around the Sierra de las Nieves Parque Natural (Mountains of
the Snows Natural Park). Thankfully, no
snow today.
Although similar, each area had its own appeal. We saw lots of Castillo (castles), just about
every little town has some sort of fortification, and watchtowers. Around El Burgeo, the hills were so steep
that farmers had to terrace them to plant their, mostly olive, trees. I cannot imagine the amount of work required to
buil, in a time when there was not the equipment we have today, these orchards. We passed olive trees that had massive
trunks, indicating that they have probably been around for centuries. We were travelling though the heart of
Manzanilla olive territory.
