Arcos de la Frontera: View from western approach
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A quick zip down the freeway from Seville is Arcos de la Frontera. The appendage means that the town was at some point "on the frontier" between the Christian and Moslem kingdoms during the centuries long "reconquest" of Spain. "Frontera" towns tend to be somewhat fortified or inaccessible for protection. Arcos is also one of the anointed "Ruta de los Pueblos Blancos" which seems to be a bit of tourist propaganda as almost every town we saw, regardless of if it was "on the list, had white washed walls.
Anyway, we arrived in Arcos on a weekend, which made it extra sleepy... but the majority of the old town is on outcropping with sheer walls on each side... making for narrow streets and good views. In the picture you can see the two churches... one of "San Pedro" and one for "Santa Maria" who apparently have been fighting with each other for quite awhile... seems kind of silly.
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Our hotel "El Convento" was in a converted convent at the end of a narrow street. It was very nice, no issues, and located on "the edge" |
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A view from the balcony of our room. |
Arcos de la Frontera: Local car
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If you ever go... just park at the Parador and walk... local cars can be ID'd by the contusions. |
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A convent that has Sangria? I'm there... |
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Very nice at night after most of the tourists left. We ate at the Parador... which was ok. |
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Arcos from "below" in the morning as we headed out to more "White Villages" |
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Villaluenga del Roasario
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I'll have to get out the map... can't remember this one. |
Grazalema... known for wool and weaving... lunch time. This village also has the highest rainfall total in Spain... doesn't look like it does it?
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| Above Grazalema is the Las Palomas Pass with some great views from a narrow road. This amateur geologist though he saw some cinder cones. |
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Zahara de la Sierra with its (13c) Nasrid fortress on the shores of Embalse de Zahara... conquered in 1483 by Ponce de Leon... the lake was created in the 1990's |
Ronda: View from room patio @ the Parador
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Into Ronda in the mid afternoon... we had a great room at the state run Parador. We had a view from our balcony of the Punete Nuevo (18c) not to be confused with the Pont Neuf |
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The Puente Nuevo from a different "top side" viewpoint. The bridge links the Mercadillo (new town) with the historical palaces and mansions of La Ciudad (old town). This could be the setting for the scene in For Whom the Bell Tolls where Hemingway tells of Franco loyalists being beaten and thrown over the cliff during the Spanish civil war. |
| Looking back at the Parador from the other side. |
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| Walking down the old city walls. |
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Narrow streets and white walls again... |
| Plaza de Toros... this is allegedly the oldest (1785) Bullring in Spain, and though the Moors may have "fought bulls", and the Romans and Greeks before them it was in Ronda that the "sport" the modern world knows was invented by three generations of Romeros. Francisco Romero was born in Ronda in 1695 and set the "rules" for bullfighting as well as introducing the cape. His son Juan introduced the support team and grandson Pedro (1754-1839) was one of Spain's greatest bullfighters establishing the "Ronda School". |
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This is pulley system by which they let the bulls out of their pens and into the ring. |
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Note the bull head over the doorway. |
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To get a "mirador" of the bridge we decided to walk down to the XX YYY |
Proof that we did actually walk all the way down there and did not just scan a postcard.
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More narrow streets and white houses. |
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Plaza at night. |
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The pseudo Columbian figures are on the facade of the Palacio del Marques de Salvatierra the american influence is believed to have come from the builder... the descendants of the Marques de Moctezuma, the governor of South America. |
The Banos Arabes (13c) ...Ronda has partially restored Moorish baths "the most complete in Spain" as all the rest of them were, but these were empty and had a really well done English AV presentation...
"Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?" No, but I have now been in a Moorish bath.
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