Traveling the Ruta de los Pueblos Bancos

Thursday, June 1, 2017--Jerez de la Frontera to Ronda

Our bus trip today took us along 2-lane highways along the Ruta de los Pueblos Blancos--a highway that connects many of the famous white villages of Spain (quaint, beautiful places in the mountains in which most of the buildings are stucco painted white).  (Note:  A right-click on the mouse should give you an options that will include using Google Translate to translate the linked webpage into English.)  Among the ones we went through were the outstanding Arcos de la Frontera, Bornos, Villamartin, Puerto Serrano, Algodonales, and El Gastor.  We could see the beautiful Zahara in the distance, and, of course, we ended in Ronda.

We are staying at the Hotel Royal which is in a good location to explore the city as well as for getting in and out of it.  It's a simple room with a good a/c and acceptable WiFi.  The town itself is so crowded with groups of tourists wandering everywhere that it wasn't very easy to walk to the hotel (even though it was just a few blocks).
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Ronda is built on two sides of the El Tajo Gorge.  The old city is on one side and the "new" city (maybe 200 years old) is on the other.   We went out this evening to see the city without the hoards of group tourists that were everywhere during the daytime.  We walked straight down our street past the bullring to the gorge where we looked out both directions.  Then we continued into the old town which is very atmospheric. 

Toward the end of the old town, we went into two different churches with interesting experiences.  Both were associated with convents.  When we entered the first one, no one was in church, but we could hear a group of unseen nuns chanting.  They continued until Wes sat down and the pew creaked.  Then they stopped.  It may have been coincidental, but I'm not convinced that it was.  In the next chapel, we entered and there were nuns in their black habits sitting quietly and praying in the front.  What I found interesting is that about 2/3 of them were seated in the pews, but the others were seated directly on the floor.

Continuing to wind through the narrow streets of the old town, we came to a path that takes people down into the gorge for a look back up to the city.  The sun was positioned just right for photos, so we decided not to wait to hike there tomorrow.  We went down and down and down the trail until we came to a small viewing area.  It provided a perfect location for taking photos, for appreciating the construction of the bridge over the gorge, and for admiring the city on top of the stone mountains on either side of it.  The climb back up was long and hard.  It was just so far and so steep.  We stopped three times to rest in the shade.

When we got to the top, it was at a small green plaza with beautiful trees and flowers with several tables of diners at a sidewalk cafe.  A man was playing a guitar--a variety of Latin melodies that I knew well.  We just sat and enjoyed the mellow music and the evening as people walked by us.