Thursday, 22 May

Today was a short bus ride to Ronda, one of the white hill towns. After breakfast Dolora and I had a short ride arriving before one. Ronda has an old and new town with a gorge separating the two, The New Bridge was built I the late 1700s. The Old Bridge was built in the 1500s. These are the two main bridges linking the town.

The bus dropped us off next to the bull ring, one of the oldest in Spain, completed in 1785. From there it was a walk across the New Bridge into the old town and to our hotel, Soho Boutique Palacio San Gabriel. The hotel is a 1736 townhouse that has been converted to a hotel. Our room is on the ground floor. We have a canopy bed. The bathroom is larger than our entire previous accommodations.

Dolora and I wandered around the old town and then over to the new town for tapas at an interesting little place, El Lechuguita. Dolora and I sat at the bar. You get an inventory sheet of tapas in Spanish, and a QR code that links to the menu in English. Check the quantity of each tapas and turn in the sheet. Tapas show up. Most tapas are € 1.40 with a large selection. We enjoyed a late lunch with Dolora having some gazpacho with her tapas. Temperature was in the 80s so gelato seemed appropriate.

After some more walking around the old town, we made a short stop in the room. Our guide, Luis, had organized an optional guitar concert by Paco Seco. He played Spanish, classical and flamenco guitars. He was pretty amazing.

Then it was off to Taberna El Almacén just a block away from the concert. Dolora and I had dinner with Diane and Tom which allowed us to try more options and share. A short walk back to our hotel in old town. Only one night in Ronda before heading to our last stop, Sevilla, in the morning,