Ronda

On the second day of our beach trip in between skiing days we went to Ronda, a beautiful mountain village about an hour from Marbella where we were staying. If I want to go back to Gibraltar to see more of the history (which I do), I really really really want to go back to Ronda! Although the village itself is small-ish, there is SO much history: prehistoric cave paintings, Roman ruins, a very large Arab influence, including 13th and 14th century Arab baths, and the famous 18th century Puente Nuevo ("nuevo" being a relative term here, especially for the Americans among us.) 

We saw only a fraction of the sites since we only had the afternoon. Here are some of them!

This is the Palace of the King of the Moors, which actually probably wasn't his palace, but does have features dating back to the 13th century, and which houses what was originally the only source of water into the city.

This is the breathtaking Tajo canyon that the famous Puente Nuevo spans. You can walk to the bottom and explore the rocks and river, and I really want to do that next time. I think we need to spend a couple of days to get everything done.

Here are the kids on the Puente Nuevo, peering down into the mesmerizing canyon and waterfall. Eric is not pictures because he got so nervous (despite his usually rational self) about the kids leaning over such heights (despite the, you know, sturdy cast iron fence clearly designed to prevent falls) that he went ahead and left me to make sure they didn't plunge to their death. The iron fence did its job--we were all fine!

Here you can see Ronda's iconic white cliff houses (and hotels) on the far side of the bridge. You can get a hotel room that literally hangs right over the canyon.

And here is the famous bridge itself!

We also walked around a 19th century park, with spring flowers blooming everywhere.

The views over the edge of the park were pretty stunning (and don't worry, there was a wall between me and the edge here.)

We walked by the Arab baths, too, but couldn't go in because they were closed (you know you're in a country that has not been completely taken over by American capitalism when a major tourist attraction closes at 3 pm on Saturday and Sunday...). I also enjoyed just soaking in the feel of the old city. But I still definitely want to go back!

When we got home from Ronda we at dinner at the restaurant across from our hotel, conveniently located right on the sandy shores of the Mediterranean. It was actually quite stormy and wave-filled for the Med that weekend. We had originally considered going to Tangier for the day, but the direct ferries got closed down all the way through the weekend because of the choppy seas, and it didn't make sense to take the longer ferry route that was still running just for a day trip. So we did Gibraltar and Ronda instead. Had we gone to Morocco we would have been able to say we'd been to three continents in one week (since we're heading to the US this Friday)! But all in all, I'm glad we chose to stay in Spain, as now we can plan a proper trip to Morocco to really see the country without rushing.

The kids loved the restaurant, as did Becca's well-travelled tiger companion. The next day we headed back to the mountains, and the kids are now on day two of their last bit of skiing.