Crazy day from start to finish! We got up early so we could head into Ronda, about an hour north of our hotel. Mike has a head cold, so he walked to the Farmacia to get some Spanish medicine.
Shortly after, we drove up to Ronda along a scenic mountain road(not for the faint of heart). Along the way there were many signs, many of which we had no idea what they meant. However, Allie took a picture of her favorite one (she wanted to steal one and take it home).
Once you get to Ronda, the town is everything you would think of when you think of a village in Spain. The people are friendly, the streets are narrow, mostly cobblestone, and the architecture is phenomenal and old.
Our first stop on our walking tour was the Iglesia de la Merced or the Church of Favors. It's not known exactly when it was built, but sometime in the 16-17th century.
From there we strolled down to the main attraction in town, Plaza de Toros, or the Bullring. It was built in 1785 and still hosts bullfights today, although it's mostly a museum and tourist attraction. This was by far our favorite stop. They let you walk all the way through it. We sat in the upper and lower bowl, went onto the dirt infield, walked through the interior hallways, saw the bull pens, and the stables(the horses drag the bulls out, once the matador kills them).
Next stop was for lunch. We ate at an outdoor cafe next to the bullring. Allie had a huevos con la patata y el jamón (ham and cheese omelet). Mike had a croissant del verraco (wild boar in a puff pastry). Both were excellent.
From there it was onto historic Ronda. We passed through Almeda Park to snap some photos of the cliff-sides and homes.
In historic Ronda the streets are narrow and mostly for pedestrians. We toured the Iglesia de Santa Maria la Mayor or the Church of Saint Mary's. It was built in the 15th century and is very ornate inside. We were blown away by the details. You aren't allowed to take photos, but we snuck in a few.
From there we did a little shopping at some local stores and moved onto the Puente Nuevo or the New Bridge. It was built in the 18th century over the river Guadalevin. It is how you get into town. The river is several hundred feet below the bridge. We took some great photos of it from the Convent of Santo Domingo. At the top of the photo and behind the bridge is a hotel, and to the right, you can see a cafe built into the side of the cliff. In the next photo you can see the Convent and bridge from the cafe(we stopped in for Sangria and a Coke Light).
This town has about 35,000 people and is busy, but well worth it. Little English is spoken here, but we got along fine with the few phrases we knew.
From there it was back to Estepona. We made a stop at a roadside fruit stand and bought a watermelon, oranges, bananas, some sort of honey dew melon, and some sort of flat peach looking things. We think the farmer told us they were juicy. It was the only English word we picked out from our conversation with him.
Now for the comical part. We stopped at a gas station in San Pedro on our way back to the hotel. Mike put it $20 Euros of gas and off we go...or so we thought. Turns out, our car is diesel! Oops! Anyway, after about a mile, the rental car breaks down. Here to find out, in Spain, "petrol normal" means regular gas and "gas-oil" means diesel. There we are, in the middle of San Pedro with a broken down car. A nice old man sitting on a park bench tried to help, but he spoke no English. He explains to us there's a mechanic just up the street. We proceed to call the rental company instead and they tell us they will send a tow truck and get us a new car in Marbella. In the meantime, 3 mechanics (the friends of the old man) came walking up to us and offer to fix our car for about half price. Then Pedro and co-workers (literally) push our car uphill to their shop and it took them about an hour to drain the gas and put in diesel. They were in a big hurry and short-staffed because Spain was playing Honduras in the World Cup at 8:30pm. The mechanics were awesome and totally hooked us up! They laughed at us and said the wrong gas in the tank happens almost daily. Pedro for President!
Anyway, after the "gas incident", we went to the Auld Dubliner Pub for fish and chips and to watch the second half of the Spain/Honduras match. Overall, best day yet! Off to Morocco tomorrow!
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