Hacienda, Villamartin, Spain
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For our last yoga classes before our rest day, we always try to make things a little harder, so people can feel the work they have done throughout the day and then really benefit from the rest day. So lots of strong standing poses, balancing poses, lots of down dogs, and so on.
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At lunchtime, far in the distance way beyond Villamartin, a thunder storm gradually rolled in. We estimated that it was perhaps 25 miles away, but it was enough to persuade us that this afternoon's trip out should be to Ronda rather than Arcos or Jerez. As we drove down, we spotted the turning for one of the prehistoric cave sites in the area. This is privately owned and getting the chance to go round it can be a bit hit and miss, but this is something we'd like to try to see.
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The rain has caught up with us by the time we reached Ronda, though no lightning and thunder. Walking down past the famous bull fighting ring (the first in Spain and the "spiritual home" of bullfighting), our first stop was the "new bridge" which connects the newer part of Ronda to the original white village. This is quite a short bridge but it is over 100m high and the sides of the cliffs are virtually vertical. With the bit of rain that had fallen, none of us were keen to go near the railings to get the most extreme pictures!
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We continued down towards the Mondragon Palace. This was the residential palace of the Moorish kings which, on the conquest of Ronda by the Christians, was given to a Captain Mondragon. It is now the Municipal Archaelogical museum and, given its relatively small size, it is actually a really good museum, mixing Arab and renaissance history with prehistoric and roman elements. And all housed in a typically beautiful Moorish palace. There was even a music trio (piano, violin and cello) who were really excellent. In all, we spent about two hours there, it was that good.
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The inner courtyard by the main entrance
Fiona in the stone-age exhibition
The second courtyard
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The gardens from the second courtyard
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The second courtyard
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Tiling on the courtyard floors
Detail from one of the courtyard doors
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From the museum we made our way around the edge of the town to the main square, dominated by the unusual Church of Santa Maria. This was originally the mosque of the town and the bell tower is a Mudejar tower built on the foundations of a minaret and then topped off with a renaissance belfry. The church itself is a mix of Moorish, renaissance, baroque and even gothic. One of our guidebooks described the inside as dull, but we were very impressed.
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The standard elaborate main alter, common to many Spanish churches
Some of the religious statues are stunningly beautiful
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Downstairs in the crypt was an exhibition of illuminated manuscripts. I am a huge fan of these and the examples were really impressive. One was the "book of hours" belonging to King Philip. They certainly knew how to make books in those days.
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Just one of about 30 illuminated manuscripts.
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A beautiful wooden statue included in the manuscript exhibition.
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Another stunning alter display
By now we had massively exceeded the time we had expected to spend in Ronda. The caves would have to wait for another trip. Instead we walked to the far end of the town to see the original town gates and then back around the top of town. We had hoped to find the ancient Arab baths but took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up back at the New Bridge. But by now it was mid evening and many places would be shutting. So we strolled back along the Carrera Espinel, one of the main shopping roads.
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Last picture I took from the New Bridge. 8:30 in the evening and just beginning to get dark. The last sun of the day is shining in exactly the right place for the picture. The drop behind the buildings is over 100m to the river below.So we missed tonight's scheduled yoga / pilates. But we probably walked enough miles to make up for it. A great day out despite the bit of rain.
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