Ronda

This weekend I went to see a Tufts friend, Christina, in Ronda, another small town in Andalucía. She's a conversation assistant, just like me, except her school is located outside of Ronda and she has to commute four days a week. Christina lives with some Spanish people and an American girl, who was away for the weekend. Friday and Sunday we hung out and didn't do anything touristy.

Saturday we walked around Ronda to see the sights. Ronda is famous for its bullring, which is one of the oldest in Spain (the first fight was in 1785). The father of modern bullfighting, Pedro Romero, is from Ronda. We visited the bullring, which was really interesting. I'm not going to make it to a bullfight, and I'm okay with that. Part of me has these Hemingway-esque ideas of bullfights, but more of me thinks that I would not be able to handle it, emotionally.

It was interesting because they had a museum on the history of bullfighting, which included costumes and posters advertising fights. Also, there was an exhibit of firearms (aka rifles older than the USA!!!!). These aren't used in bullfights. I think the collection came from the same people who operate the ring. Because the ring was not in use (the only fights are in September), we were able to walk around the area where they keep the bulls. It was somewhat disturbing. They have a system of pulleys to open the doors containing the bulls in their cages. A person can stand on the second level and look down to make sure the bull is in position to enter the ring. We also walked around the actual fighting space, which is large in proportion to the space for spectators.

The other tourist draw in Ronda are the bridges. Three bridges stand above the El Tajo gorge: they are called the "Old Bridge," the "New Bridge" (still older than the USA), and the "Arab Bridge." The New Bridge is by far the most impressive. It's extremely high above the gorge (which is basically dry).

The New Bridge joins the oldest part of Ronda with the newer parts of the city. The former is similar to various parts of Cordoba and Priego. Because of tourism, the new part of town has stores like United Colors of Benetton and McDonalds.

I liked Ronda. It's better connected to other parts of Spain and slightly larger than Priego. It's also quite a bit flatter.