ROMANTIC RONDA

For an unforgettable holiday experience, take a Club La Costa excursion to Ronda, one of Andalucia’s oldest and most beautiful cities…

After a panoramic tour of the famous Marbella district, Club La Costa will take you upwards passing through the impressive Sierra Bermeja Mountain Range and Sierra de las Nieves Nature Park, where you can enjoy breathtaking views over mountain passes, gorges and waterfalls.

On your Club La Costa excursion, you stop at the old Venta (Inn) ‘El Navasillo’, where you are served with Spanish Mountain Brunch. Then after the meal, Club La Costa is ready to take you to Ronda…

Ronda has been inhabited by Romans, Visigoths and Arabs. Once under Islamic rule, Ronda was conquered by the Marquis of Cadiz in 1485, and this is when much of the city’s architecture was adapted for Christian purposes, or rebuilt in new areas of the town.

Situated some 750m above sea level, Ronda is in a very mountainous region. Running through the city is the Guadalevin River, which divides Ronda in two, and forms the 100m deep gorge known as El Tajo. This canyon separates Ronda into its old and new parts.

Crossing the gorge and considered to be some of Ronda’s most impressive sights are the three bridges: Puente Romano (Roman); Viejo (Old); and Nuevo (New) – the last being completed in 1793, and standing 120 metres above the ground.

The bullring at Ronda is the oldest in Spain, and was built in 1784 by José Martin de Aldehuela, the same architect responsible for the Puente Nuevo. Once a year, the unique and historical ‘Corrida Goyesca’ bullfight takes place here. Fashion designer Giorgio Armani declared that his design of the bullfighting costume ‘Goyesco’ was created with this event in mind.

Arab Baths (Baños Árabes) still remain below the city, dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries.

Its charm and beauty recorded in many places across world literature, Ronda appears in works by Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles, both of whom spent many months in the old part of the town known as La Ciudad. Ronda was the inspiration for Hemingway’s ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’, which tells the story of the murder of Nationalist sympathisers by Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. The ashes of Orson Welles, who said that Spain and Ronda inspired much of his work, were scattered in a Ronda bullring.

Whilst Club La Costa provides all your transport for this trip, Ronda can also be reached by road and rail, with a railtrack from Algeciras and Córdoba. The latter track was completed in 1892 by the Gibraltar Railway Company, and allowed the British military a retreat from Gibraltar’s summer heat.

In the afternoon, Club La Costa will take you to Puerto Banus, where you can mingle with the millionaires, check out the designer shops, or simply take a break, people watch and admire the passing super cars – all driven very slowly to ensure they receive maximum attention…