Ronda
It took me three days to load this damn post because of all the pictures. So here we go, finally. We (Laurie, Whiz, Rachel and I) decided to take a day trip to Malaga, which is a pretty large city near where we were staying. So we drove 45 minutes to this fucking city and could not, for the life of me, find an empty parking garage. Rachel and Laurie really wanted to go to Malaga to see the Picasso museum and Picasso's birthplace. Well, not only could I NOT find a parking spot, the traffic in this godforsaken city was horrible. Part of the reason why we couldn't find parking garages was because we were sitting still in traffic most of the time we were in the city. And to top it off, Whiz can't handle big city traffic so he was having a mini-meltdown in the back seat. So after a few hours of sitting in traffic we decided to fuck it and leave. Well, on the way back we decided to not completely waste the day and decided to head to this little town up in the mountains called Ronda that a few people had recommended. So we hopped off the highway and got on this narrow two lane road that winded up the side of the mountain to Ronda.
And about an hour into the drive up the mountains (the Sierra Nevada), we ran across this little sign--SNOW!! We didn't actually run across any, but it was cool to know that we were in a place that it could actually snow.
There were a bunch of stop-offs along the way so you could take pictures or piss. I did both at this stop. The cool thing about this picture is that it shows you how high up we were at this point. We are almost in the clouds--that's not the top of a mountain straight ahead--that's a cloud.
Another view from the stop-off. It was really cloudy and partly raining that day. I would imagine if you went back and took this same road on a clear day it would have some sweet views.
Occasionally we would stumble across small mountain towns on the way like the one ahead, but for the most part it was a really deserted, curvy, dangerous mountain road. Speaking of which it was fun as hell to drive. The rental car was a turbo-diesel stick (as most every car is in Spain) and driving on this road was awesome. I took in every minute because I knew once I got back to the flat-land one-side-to-the-other-of-the-island-in-20-minutes Bahrain I wouldn't be able to drive on roads like this.
It's hard to see in this photo, but it's one of the only photos I have that show it. You can see terracing on the mountains if you look hard. We saw lots of that in Morocco, but very little in Spain.
What exactly are they trying to say with this sign?
A cool shot.
And Ronda. Back in the day (hundreds to thousands of years ago) they used to wall their cities in in both Spain and Morocco (and I imagine elsewhere) to keep out invaders. In Morocco we saw lots of that, but in Spain very little, if any old city walls remained. Except here, in Rhonda. Apparently due to it's position high up in the mountains the Muslims (the Moors) were able to hold on to it or whatnot. Or I could be completely wrong. I don't know. Look it up Dad and let me know:)
Here's the wall I was talking about.
Another pic driving toward Ronda. I like the sun coming through the clouds.
Interesting slippery road sign.
One of the coolest things about Ronda were the huge crevasses around the city. Here's one that was near the bullfighting ring (coming up). If you look closely there is a bike stuck down there. Hope there wasn't anyone on it when it took the plunge.
Standing from the same spot as the last photo. Gives you an idea of how high up this city was. It really seemed to be situated on kind of a plateau.
A side street in Ronda.
One of the cool things about Ronda was the small-town atmosphere and the sweet old buildings. It was really clean and touristy, but not too touristy. Although it was small, I really liked this town.
Another picture driving towards Ronda.
And this is the entrance to the oldest operating bullfighting ring in Spain. It was built in 1784.
This is the gift shop where I got mom's bull, right next to the bullring.
Next to the bullring.
And inside the bullring. It cost 6 euros to get in, which wasn't bad considering there was even a museum under the seating area (although they wouldn't let us take pictures.)
Entrance to the ring.
Whiz is like 6'5" so you get an idea of how tall these bull protecting thingys are. There were a bunch scattered around the inside of the ring.
They actually let you wander around wherever you wanted including inside the ring. Very cool.
Inside the bull area.
A training area of some sort. They had an elevated walkway you could walk around and look down at the various rooms and whatnot.
Behind me is the entrance to the ring. This is where I suspect the bull would run out of his pen into the ring.
A bulls head on the arch entering the ring.
You can see what I mean by the elevated walkway.
Some more shots from the walkway.
There was a stable out back that had a few horses in it.
And another Mickey D's.
And the coolest thing about Ronda. There was this bridge that was built in 1793 that spanned this massive gorge right in the middle of town. It was really fucking cool.
That's me standing about where the picture above was taken. The bridge is behind Rachel, who's taking the picture.
Another view of the bridge.
Looking toward the bridge. That camper is on the bridge, to give you an idea.
And another look on top of the bridge.
This was taken standing on the bridge looking the opposite way, upriver.
Standing on the bridge again. Cool shadow effects.
And looking down at the river, upstream.
There was an area about 5 square blocks that were pedestrian only that had a bunch of shops.
These were everywhere in Spain, in grocery stores, in little shops like this, etc. I'm fairly sure they are legs of lamb. It was really weird to see 100 of these hanging in the cheese section of the equivalent of our Giant Eagle.
Looking at the upstream side of the bridge.
And again upstream.
A church near where we parked.
And here are a couple out of place pictures. These were a couple dudes from Germany on some Goldwings that cruised by us in Marbella, another small town.
This beer was for sale at the grocery store. I had to try a bottle. And I must say this is one of the very few times I actually dumped out a bottle of beer, it was that shitty.
A fountain in Ronda.
A bridge in Marbella.
So on our way to Madrid, we stopped again in Malaga to try and find the Harley shop again. This time we found it. Only it was closed. So we waited in an illegal parking spot for about an hour waiting for it to open. Finally it opened and we were able to get shirts. The picture below is out the car window while we waited. The shop is ahead and to the right.
And on the way to Madrid we left before the sunrise. Hence, we were able to get this awesome shot of the sun rising over the Mediterranean (from the freeway:).
And about an hour into the drive up the mountains (the Sierra Nevada), we ran across this little sign--SNOW!! We didn't actually run across any, but it was cool to know that we were in a place that it could actually snow.
There were a bunch of stop-offs along the way so you could take pictures or piss. I did both at this stop. The cool thing about this picture is that it shows you how high up we were at this point. We are almost in the clouds--that's not the top of a mountain straight ahead--that's a cloud.
Another view from the stop-off. It was really cloudy and partly raining that day. I would imagine if you went back and took this same road on a clear day it would have some sweet views.
Occasionally we would stumble across small mountain towns on the way like the one ahead, but for the most part it was a really deserted, curvy, dangerous mountain road. Speaking of which it was fun as hell to drive. The rental car was a turbo-diesel stick (as most every car is in Spain) and driving on this road was awesome. I took in every minute because I knew once I got back to the flat-land one-side-to-the-other-of-the-island-in-20-minutes Bahrain I wouldn't be able to drive on roads like this.
It's hard to see in this photo, but it's one of the only photos I have that show it. You can see terracing on the mountains if you look hard. We saw lots of that in Morocco, but very little in Spain.
What exactly are they trying to say with this sign?
A cool shot.
And Ronda. Back in the day (hundreds to thousands of years ago) they used to wall their cities in in both Spain and Morocco (and I imagine elsewhere) to keep out invaders. In Morocco we saw lots of that, but in Spain very little, if any old city walls remained. Except here, in Rhonda. Apparently due to it's position high up in the mountains the Muslims (the Moors) were able to hold on to it or whatnot. Or I could be completely wrong. I don't know. Look it up Dad and let me know:)
Here's the wall I was talking about.
Another pic driving toward Ronda. I like the sun coming through the clouds.
Interesting slippery road sign.
One of the coolest things about Ronda were the huge crevasses around the city. Here's one that was near the bullfighting ring (coming up). If you look closely there is a bike stuck down there. Hope there wasn't anyone on it when it took the plunge.
Standing from the same spot as the last photo. Gives you an idea of how high up this city was. It really seemed to be situated on kind of a plateau.
A side street in Ronda.
One of the cool things about Ronda was the small-town atmosphere and the sweet old buildings. It was really clean and touristy, but not too touristy. Although it was small, I really liked this town.
Another picture driving towards Ronda.
And this is the entrance to the oldest operating bullfighting ring in Spain. It was built in 1784.
This is the gift shop where I got mom's bull, right next to the bullring.
Next to the bullring.
And inside the bullring. It cost 6 euros to get in, which wasn't bad considering there was even a museum under the seating area (although they wouldn't let us take pictures.)
Entrance to the ring.
Whiz is like 6'5" so you get an idea of how tall these bull protecting thingys are. There were a bunch scattered around the inside of the ring.
They actually let you wander around wherever you wanted including inside the ring. Very cool.
Inside the bull area.
A training area of some sort. They had an elevated walkway you could walk around and look down at the various rooms and whatnot.
Behind me is the entrance to the ring. This is where I suspect the bull would run out of his pen into the ring.
A bulls head on the arch entering the ring.
You can see what I mean by the elevated walkway.
Some more shots from the walkway.
There was a stable out back that had a few horses in it.
And another Mickey D's.
And the coolest thing about Ronda. There was this bridge that was built in 1793 that spanned this massive gorge right in the middle of town. It was really fucking cool.
That's me standing about where the picture above was taken. The bridge is behind Rachel, who's taking the picture.
Another view of the bridge.
Looking toward the bridge. That camper is on the bridge, to give you an idea.
And another look on top of the bridge.
This was taken standing on the bridge looking the opposite way, upriver.
Standing on the bridge again. Cool shadow effects.
And looking down at the river, upstream.
There was an area about 5 square blocks that were pedestrian only that had a bunch of shops.
These were everywhere in Spain, in grocery stores, in little shops like this, etc. I'm fairly sure they are legs of lamb. It was really weird to see 100 of these hanging in the cheese section of the equivalent of our Giant Eagle.
Looking at the upstream side of the bridge.
And again upstream.
A church near where we parked.
And here are a couple out of place pictures. These were a couple dudes from Germany on some Goldwings that cruised by us in Marbella, another small town.
This beer was for sale at the grocery store. I had to try a bottle. And I must say this is one of the very few times I actually dumped out a bottle of beer, it was that shitty.
A fountain in Ronda.
A bridge in Marbella.
So on our way to Madrid, we stopped again in Malaga to try and find the Harley shop again. This time we found it. Only it was closed. So we waited in an illegal parking spot for about an hour waiting for it to open. Finally it opened and we were able to get shirts. The picture below is out the car window while we waited. The shop is ahead and to the right.
And on the way to Madrid we left before the sunrise. Hence, we were able to get this awesome shot of the sun rising over the Mediterranean (from the freeway:).
posted by byroninbahrain at 11:02 PM
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