Sunday, April 25, 2010

Ronda, a Town on a Cliff


It was a real interesting drive today. We drove south through flat plains as flat as anything in the Midwest and then suddenly hills appears with canyons and it was up and down time in the car. The terrain was extremely varied and we tool lots of photos, only a couple are included here.

Ronda is built on the side of a cliff with a deep gully cut by a stream through the middle. We intended to walk to dinner that night but Leathem and I decided to scout out the path first. The GPS said it was only 0.8 miles to the restaurant but what we didn't realize was that it included a 1000 foot altitude increase! After a few minutes into our scouting routing, we realized that the girls would never make that hike and decide on taking the car. By the time we got back, we were virtually exhausted but of course we never showed it and volunteered to take the car to the top the second time (see photo for a look at about 1/2 the height up)! Even that ride was not without excitement. The road was so steep that you could not see the road ahead when coming to an intersection (the hood hid the view). On faith you pressed on and sure enough, there was a road beneath the car when you tilted forward onto a flat intersection point.

We found a restaurant at the top of the cliff with a magnificent view of the gully where we ate dinner which was excellent as we watched the sun fade. Walking back to the car parked underground, we started back down which equaled the excitement of the trip up! It's a wonder the car just didn't skid downward but somehow that tired gripped enough. We feel that now we are getting into the swing of things in Spain since we finished with a bottle of wine at 11:00 pm. Tomorrow it's onward to the Royal Clipper!


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