A Vol. 17
ll about
S
errania de Ronda
Issue 408 November 2022
www.theolivepress.es
November 2022
PHOTOS BY JON CLARKE
FRONT ROW SEAT TO HISTORY
Few mountain towns have a true sense of history, not to mention culinary offerings, writes Jon Clarke LEGENDS: Ronda’s 18th century bullring hosted everyone from Orson Welles to Ernest Hemingway
Come and try Ronda’s amazing wines with a tapa TEL: 672 284 146 Closed Sunday and Monday
Calle Pozo 2, 29400 Ronda https://qrco.de/bbWFvy
tel: 952 87 89 85
Calle Virgen de los Dolores 11 29400 Ronda, Málaga, España Tropicanaronda@gmail.com
B
Y the time of the collapse of the Arabic empire in 1485, Ronda had been entertaining foreign visitors for not far off 1500 years. One of Spain’s oldest towns, in Roman times it had a thriving wine industry and even its own mint, fittingly its coins bearing a tendril of grapes. Established in 9BC as a military bastion, it was given the name ‘Arunda’ meaning ‘surrounded by
mountains’ and it is easy to see why. Take a pew at any of the monuments dotted around the town and chances are you will see dozens of faraway peaks that literally ring the town, from the National Park of Sierra de las Nieves on one side to the Parque Natural of Grazalema on the other. Ronda is a true front row seat to history with these nearby mounContinues on Page 2