On Friday we decided that on the weekend we should do something different, some active tourism, since we didn't want to stay in our city. For this reason one of our friends suggested we go to see his town, since he is from Malaga. We headed south, where the climate and its people are most pleasant.
On the way, when we had already passed Despeñaperros and entered the province of Jaén, we could see, from the window, how the Andalusian orography began to mark its features Absolutely personal, unmistakable. We were getting closer to Ronda, and the road signs pointed out a thousand arrows that led to different places in Andalusia.
And Ronda, being located in the northwest of the province of Málaga, becomes an unrivaled point of reference from which to discover the entire Andalusian land, since from there, Seville is Located less than two hours away, Granada, one hour and a quarter, Malaga, 50 minutes, and Córdoba, just under an hour and a half.
We arrived in Ronda, she greeted us smiling and at night, smelling of orange trees. Our friends were waiting to receive us in the Plaza de España, where, very close to the Parador Nacional, on José Aparicio Street, a welcome dinner awaited us at the "Tragabuches" restaurant. We were treated to a tasting menu of the haute cuisine that this house serves, as a sample of Ronda's gastronomy. Rich in colors, served on tableware with simple and trendy lines. The dishes combined different tastes in a masterful way, opting for the bold mix of different flavors to the right degree and decorated in exquisite aesthetics.
In the streets surrounding the Plaza de España the city's nightlife is concentrated: cocktail bars, tapas bars and discos, of this city that dreams awake, night after night, intensely rushing every minute until dawn breaks . Nueva Street, Villanueva Street, which paints its face with lime and is covered with geraniums, experiences the movement of its people during the day, and the revelry at night, of a happy and warm town, the Rondeño, who knows enjoy what is yours and understand life with temperament.
In the morning, after having a rich and varied breakfast, we saw how the city woke up. We walked through San Antonio, one of the streets of the cartographic bouquet that is found in the old town of Ronda and that shows off the typical facades there, white and latticed, with the cobbled road, in which Ronda craft and decoration establishments are concentrated.
The Parador Nacional de Ronda enjoys a privileged location, because it is perched on the Tajo de Ronda, a monument of nature that is, without a doubt, the emblematic feature of the city. Without a doubt, it is an old city, inserted in an ancient region, which hides art treasures from prehistory.
The urban center of Ronda is dotted with archaeological sites but only 22 km away, an ancient cavity opens up, the Cueva de la Pileta, which houses the group of cave paintings from the Paleolithic and Upper Neolithic , cataloged as the most important in the Andalusian autonomous community. 12 km from the city, in the Ronda mountain range, rests the Acinipo or "Old Round", an ancient Roman city, which rescues its theater, its forum, and its thermal baths from the jaws of time, which devours everything. Before the Romans, Acinipo settled a prehistoric settlement, from which some remains have been recovered that the visitor can see.
Walking around the city it was noon so, while we breathed the sweet air of the mountains, we started to eat. We retraced our steps until we reached the Paseo de Blas Infante, the Jerez Restaurant, where we were able to enjoy a tasting menu worthy of the Moorish viceroys themselves. The dishes, presented with exquisite aesthetics, offered the palate traditional flavors of Andalusian cuisine in an excellent preparation. The meats, tender and tasty. We were able to enjoy the enoturismo of the reserve land of 95 of a different, fragrant, velat, which, without a doubt, expands the range of excellent wines to export in our country.
Once we finished eating we decided to continue exploring the immense paths that Ronda offers us and in the afternoon we decided on a short stop and a warm, aromatic coffee. Ronda enjoys an extraordinary natural environment, as it is surrounded by the Natural Parks of the Sierras de las Nieves and the Plaza de Pérez Clotet Grazalema, both declared natural biosphere reserves by UNESCO. The latter buries a complex of speleology, the Hundidero-Gato, which contains Neolithic remains, encrypted from 8,000 to 5,000 BC
The towns of the Sierra are drained by the Guadiaro and Genal rivers, which turn their valleys into authentic natural paradises, with dense vegetation and native fauna. A very relevant fact regarding Ronda's tree resources is its possession of Pinsapos forests, native specimen of the Serranía that is only preserved here and in Morocco. It is an ancient, extinct native species from the Tertiary era. This framework described makes it possible for Ronda to practice many sports, such as caving, hiking, hunting. strong>, fishing and paragliding.
It was our last night in Ronda and we had to reluctantly go to sleep, as we were very comfortable. The next day, we woke up very late and sad, because we did not want to leave the city that dazzled us so much... We will return, for sure.
