Ronda was our third stop on our road trip through Andalucía, a mountain village a little under two hours by car east of Cádiz. Ronda’s one of the region’s many pueblos blancos (white villages) called so because the houses are almost all painted white.
The setting is surreal, and unlike any town we’ve ever seen. The town is set on both sides of the El Tejo canyon carved by the Guadalevín river. The canyon is over 100m deep. The town’s most dramatic features are the three bridges across the canyon. The largest and highest is the Puente Nuevo (new bridge), which is in fact the newest bridge, though it was built between 1751 and 1793.
Here’s a view looking to the east (up the river) from the Puente Nuevo. The river is 120m below.
Here’s a look to the west from the same bridge.
We walked west along the south side of the river to get our first look back at the bridge.
A view of the valley to the north and west of Ronda.
We took a trail down the canyon and were oh so brave to continue (so did everyone else).
Like I said, it’s a surreal visual.
Here’s the Puente Viejo (old bridge) located east of the Puente Nuevo.
Here’s a couple of looks at the bridge from the upstream side. The town has a series of terraced gardens set into the north side of the canyon between the Puente Viejo and Puente Nuevo bridges.
A view of the valley west of the town.
The bridge is lit at night.
We hiked down a bit further into the canyon on the morning we departed.
The drive from Ronda east to Málaga was an amazing mountain road. Since we drove it on a Sunday, there were plenty of folks out for a drive. We were passed by packs of motorcycles and some fancy sports cars and racers. We pulled off a few times to take in the views.
Here’s one of our first looks at the Mediterranean Sea. Oh yeah, there are some golf courses in the foreground.
