Doing the rounds in Ronda

Oh, we're so lazy when we wake up. All these days we've walked and done things all day long, and now that the last talks have been given and the pressure is off, we feel like doing nothing at all. But outside beckons the astonishing sun and the equally astonishing landscape - just waiting for us to explore it.

- and, of course, the breakfast, lavish with everything you can imagine and ranging from these churros

to a series of surprisingly tasty gluten-free products.

There's a pathway long the gorge right outside our hotel, the Paseo Hemingway, and we follow it to be able to look into the cavernous gorge.

Then we cross over that fateful Puente Nuevo and head into the Moorish old town, La Ciudad, on the other side. In many places are photos of Hemingway and Orson Welles, both of whom spent time here. The latter's ashes are buried on the property of retired bull-fighter Antonio Ordoñez, the father of adored bullfighter, Gayetano Ordoñez, mentioned by Hemingway in The Sun Also Rises, and who is immortalized in a statue outisde the Plaza de Toros. Another frequent visitor was Rainer Maria Rilke, whose name seems to have inspired many restaurant owners. The poet would have been surprised! We meander through the pretty streets, unwilling to go into museums on such a glorious day, but finally we decide to check out the Casa del Rey Moro hanging on the edge of the gorge. It is under renovation, but we can visit the garden and a "mina". I find and stalk a reluctant peacock until I can get a picture, after which he lets out a series of outraged gargled screams. Maybe he's just looking for his mate? She disappeared as soon as she saw me.

The "mina" turns out to be a steep set of steps going round and round down into the rock-face, all the way to the bottom of the gorge. Oswaldo goes alone with the camera and is gone for a loooong time. He's pretty tired when he comes up the ap. 200 steps, but has taken some spectacular photos of the translucent water

Then follows a complicated, and ultimately succesful purchase of tablecloths from a nice Spanish lady, who leads me to her "hijo" in the store nearby. She explains he is her only son and that he is very beautiful, and I say I have one of those also :) He's tougher than his mom, though, and does not produce the  discount originally hinted at, but it doesn't matter. I know I'm buying way cheaper than at the store on the main street.

Ronda was a destination for 19th and early 20th travelers in search of the Romantic landscape. George Eliot was here, as was Washintong Irving, and many others. On our way back to the hotel we find the city plaque, which honors them with quotes from their work.

Oswaldo didn't get to see the Plaza de Toros  in Sevilla, but we visit together the one behind our hotel, which claims to be the oldest in all of Spain, built in 1785. Ronda had two very famous toreadors and their outfits and other paraphernalia are shown in an adjacent museum.

In the plaza outside the arena stands a most amazing statue of a charging bull. We fervently hope he was one who made it.

Here are the pictures from Ronda: https://plus.google.com/photos/108088723826036223432/albums/5954744074756187825?authkey=CJHOk_uUqI2ofA