4-26-09

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Woke up and left way too early to catch the 9:00 bus to Ronda. Sometimes the 10 takes up to an hour but since there was no traffic I got there in about 20 minutes. Ughh. Anyway, I met up with Jeff and we got the very front seats on the bus! We were pretty excited about getting a good view but then ended up reading and dozing off throughout the whole 3 hour trip. Unfortunately, as if the trip wasn’t long enough, we had to stop in Malaga for a half hour. As soon as we got near Ronda the temperature dropped and it started sprinkling. We tried to get our return tickets before we left the bus station (for some reason they wouldn’t let us get ida y vuelta in Granada) but the guy said the only bus was at 4:00. Since we weren’t sure if 3 ½ hours would be enough, we thought about just getting a ticket to Malaga then buying another ticket there for Granada. (That probably would’ve been cheaper, too – we spent almost €20 one way!) So Jeff ate part of his disgusting bocadillo and we headed out into the freezing cold only to find out it was now a downpour. Good thing he brought the largest umbrella known to man!
First, we walked through this cute little park that had some pretty good views of the countryside. (Background: Ronda is the biggest of all the pueblos blancos and it straddles a narrow, 20 story gorge. It’s also the birthplace of bullfighting and has the oldest bullring in Spain.) I quickly realized that my fear of heights might not be to my advantage in a town that’s entirely centered around a HUGE dropoff. Either way, we continued to the bullring and coughed up €6 to go in. We got to see where they train the horses, the stables, chapel, bullpens, practice rings, and then the arena! I wish it wouldn’t have been raining because we would’ve spent a lot more time there and gotten some better pictures. It was so well preserved but a little smaller than I expected. After that we went through the museum where they had displays of equipment and costumes from toreros since the beginning of bullfighting. They also had some big heads mounted on the wall and guns from as far back as 1590. I loved all the pictures and posters of the past ferias. One thing we did notice is how incredibly small the toreros outfits were – these dudes had to be tiny! I always picture a tall, strong man but these looked like they were for 10 year old boys.

Our next stop was the main plaza where I tried to get another free poster from the tourist information office. No such luck. By this time we were absolutely soaked and pretty grouchy. I thought maybe eating my bocadillo would help, but it was pretty tricky to do in the rain. I definitely ingested small amounts of tinfoil which I can’t imagine is good for a person. We walked across the Puente Nuevo which is the biggest, tallest bridge in Ronda and is shown on all the postcards. We went across from the new city to the ancient city and wound our way down to the second bridge, known as Puente Viejo. From there we saw a castle in the distance and the stables where they raise the horses which are used in bullfights. There’s so much history about this city that I can’t explain very well and I’d love to know more about.. Oh, and we also spotted a not so smart Smart car that was trying to cross the third bridge, Puente Arabe, even though the water was halfway up its door!
From the middle bridge we crossed back to the other side and climbed to a lookout that had an amazing view of the Puente Nuevo which was breathtaking not only for its beauty but also its sheer size. During the Reconquista and many other times in history, people were thrown off the bridge to their death. Yes, this is what I was thinking for the majority of the time I was looking down! After snapping a few pictures we decided to find a café and warm up a bit since we couldn’t feel out fingers. I was absolutely soaked and even Jeff’s old man umbrella didn’t keep him dry. Well, the best (and first) place we found was a McDonald’s in the main plaza so we sucked it up and went in. I thoroughly enjoyed my “Dollar menu” aka “Euro menu” fries – hot, salty, and just like they are in the US.
At this point we quickly and unanimously decided that catching the 4:00 bus wouldn’t be a problem. In fact, we would be glad to get back to a hot shower and dry feet as soon as possible. We found another overlook and were disappointed that we couldn’t climb down the steps etched into the side by the Moors or Romans a really really long time ago (ok, so history isn’t my forte – give me a break). On one side you had to pay and on the other that led down to some more lookouts, the gate was locked. We didn’t have much time left anyway, but it definitely would’ve been cool. Where we were standing this dumb guy climbed onto the stone wall stood up to videotape. What an idiot! I gave Jeff my camera to hold over the edge to capture the things I wasn’t daring enough to get. We saw the old city walls, the mountains, and of course, the bridge and gorge.

After that we headed back to the bus station where all of the ticket windows were closed. I gave in and walked up to an Alsa man who was having his coffee (obviously on break after a drive) and asked how I could get my ticket back to Granada. He pointed to a guy who was walking away from us and said, “Follow him”. The guy went straight into the booth, opened it up, and we got our tickets. When we stopped in Malaga, the bus driver pulled up and said it would be another half hour before we left again. Two minutes later he came back and asked us if we wanted to jump on the bus next to us which was headed to Granada right away and had a couple seats left. We took advantage of it and I was so thankful when I finally got a warm shower, hot meal, and dry feet!

I feel bad that this entry was so negative because it really was an amazing place and I’m so glad I went. It would have been a totally different experience if it would’ve been nicer weather.. a cheaper and faster bus wouldn’t have hurt, either. I guess I just regret that I didn’t go to the Netherlands this weekend with Whitney, Sara, and Christine. They had an awesome time and it’s somewhere I really wanted to see! It would’ve been a little expensive but probably worth it. Guess I can’t do anything about it now…