Andalusia - II. Ronda to Cadiz

From Granada we drove west to Cádiz, stopping along the way at a some of the pueblos blancos.

Our first stop was Ronda, perched on the sheer cliffs of a gorge cut by the River Tajo.
This strong defensive position was a natural location for a town in earlier times, and Ronda's history goes back at least to Roman times, and perhaps to an earlier Celtic settlement. From the 8th century until 1482 it was a Moorish provincial capital.

We spent a pleasant couple of hours wandering up and down streets of white houses.
Peering into courtyards (in this case of the Convento de Santo Domingo).
Spotting the Palacio del Marqués de Salviatierra.
With its decidedly odd Aztec or Inca details.

The explanation - according to the guide book - is that the family's title derived from the Mexican town of Salvatierra.





Ronda also has a bullring built in the 18th century and is famous as one of the cradles of modern bullfighting - but we didn't spend much time on that.

We continued west, past several other pueblo blanco towns, stopping at Arcos de la Frontiera.

Arcos also is built on a promentory.














When we arrived mid-afternoon the sun was in full force and the town deserted as we climbed the hill to the old town.

We had the narrow streets nearly to ourselves.















Then we drove on to Cádiz, where we were spending the night. Cádiz occupies a narrow spit of land extending into the Atlantic and has a fine harbor to which much of its history is tied. Indeed, it was founded by the Phoenicians, about 1100 BC according to tradition; later it was an important Roman trading port. In 1717 it took over the monopoly of Spanish trade with its American colonies from Sevilla (whose access to the Atlantic was limited when the Rio Guadalquiver silted up). And in 1805 the Spanish-French fleet sailed from Cádiz to defeat at Trafalgar.

In 1596 Cádiz was briefly captured and thoroughly sacked in a raid by English Earl of Essex. This destroyed most traces of ancient and medieval times. The old city retains a set of walls across the neck of land, but otherwise was mostly laid out and built up in the 16th to 18th centuries. The result is an old town beyond the walls of narrow, but often long and straight streets.
There are few remarkable monuments, but many opportunities for pleasant wandering. We especially enjoyed the Plaza de San Francisco.
Where we made dinner of tapas.
There were parks with views of the ocean, and some huge trees.
Promenades along the ocean, which Pat enjoyed.
And views of the small beach in old Cádiz.