Ronda: The hike down and the view

Today, I decided to do all my must see´s here in Ronda. I decide to walk (5 minutes) to the REal Maestranza (Bullring) which is considered to be the first and oldest bullring (200 years old), built in the 18th century. They were actually building some kind of Christmas Market thing in the center of the ring and so I could only photograph one half of the bullring. I think it´s actually better looking than the one in Sevilla and also once you pay your $6 Euros entrance fee you can pretty much roam around on your own. There is a very nice museum inside under the stands which has great photos, prints and examples of the matador costumes. Next, I walk over to the bull pens where you can climb up to viw them from the top. Behind the pens, they have some stables where they keep some of the Equestrian horses for the riding school. While there, I saw three trainers excercising three beautiful horses. Once they were done, they brought them to the other seide where they washed them. Kind of interesting to watch and so I did.

Next, I decide to walk back over to the old city so I can find the Casa Del Moro and walk down to the Gorge. The road to the Casa is all stones and quite steep but cool looking. I pay the $4 Euros etnrance fee to be able to see the mine and the gardens. At first, I´m thinking, hey this isn´t so bad and it was quite enjoyable. Then I approach this opening and see this really steep, dark, creepy, wet set of stairs with a rod iron handrail curving down. I hesitate again, but this time for a while longer, no doubt calculating the risk invovled of me continuing on. I continue on. And to compound things even more, there is water dripping and puddles of water in some sections of these steps. And oh yeah did I mention that it is dark and creepy! I´m now a little worried and I am trying to talk myself out of this. I´m thinking why did I have to stumble upon that YouTube video about this little trek down to the gorge. But then I remmebered ow I was able to climb up the side of the Yosemite Half dome clinging to a cable and how much more scarier that was than this! I take a deep breath and thought to myself . . . screw it, when am I ever going to be here again and this is something that I have wanted to do! I enter the creepy staircase and after slowly making my way down many more stairs, I arrive at the exit at the bottom of the gorge where I am treated to a spectacular view. It´s so quiet and peaceful down here and the gorge walls are amazing. So of course, now I´m not so scared . . . plus there was a nice Spanish couple that came down a few minutes later. Yay! Climbing up wasn´t half as bad as climbing down was, but I did put my shoe in a big puddle of tajo river water! Ha, ha!

After seeing the mine and the bottom of the gorge, I snapa a few more photos of the gardens also located here and then walk down to the old bridge and back up to town.

Afterwoards I wonder aroudn the old city for about an hour and then back to my hotel where I treat myself to a very nice dinner in the restaraunt here. I had a very delicious grilled swordfish filet with some boiled potatoes and a little salad on the side! A nice ending to an interesting and adventurous day!

BTW, remember those warm clothes I mailed back home in Sevilla ... well it is freezing here in Ronda! :)
Inside the Real Maestranza . . .

Dude . . .

They were scrubbed from head to toe . . .

All three horses being bathed . . .

One of the many quaint streets in the Old City of Ronda . . .

As I start my trek down to the mine here, I´m thinking this isn´t so bad . . . .

And then I saw this . . .

In this photo you can actually get a sense of the steepness...

Some places were dripping with water from the ceiling and really dark (it´s lighted here because of my flash and a little opening) . . .

Where you exit when you reach the bottom of the gorge . . .

Eye level view at the bottom of the gorge. It was pretty incredible. . . .

View from bottom of the gorge to the top . . .


Forestier´s Gardens at La Casa Del Rey Moro . .


Old Bridge (no comparison, huh!)