Travel for the Over 30s

If you are British you will not doubt of heard of the Costa del Sol - if you aren’t British - avoid it - tourist/expat getto hell! But do your self a favour and take the short trip up into the hills to the beautiful hill town of Ronda - home to Spain’s oldest bullfighting ring - and compared to the hell that is the Costa - unspoiled!

I hadn’t thought of Ronda for ages - but while surfing around the web today I came across a great English-language websites with lots of information on Ronda when I went - nearly 10 years ago all I had to guide me was a somewhat out of date Lonely Planet - these local sites - often maintained by ethusasitc locals - really make it a great deal easier to find out local information before you arrive.

We didn’t have the advantage - instead we headed towards the tourist office for a walking tour leaflet and then started walking - at one particularly attractive outlook we picked up a rather good operatic singer who turned into a guide - and who I gladly tipped at the end of several hours because he really was quite a good singer and quite a laugh to with!

If you do make it to Ronda - don’t be worried if you arrive in the middle of the afternoon and find every thing closed - they keep the siesta properly here - it will open up again around 5pm! Don’t miss the the arab baths the bullring or the spectacular scenary as the town literally is built on the side of a hill. Bring comfortable shoes, plenty of water and a camera!

The Serranía de Ronda, the mountain range around Ronda and which includes many of Andalucía’s most attractive white villages, is also an area of incredible importance, historically, culturally, and naturally.

It was at Benaojan, only 18kms from Ronda that paleolithic people were painting the caves at Pileta, and at Montecorto, only 15kms from Ronda that neolithic people built stone temples and villages. Acinipo, which is only 10km from Ronda was one of Iberia’s most important Roman towns.

Nature in the Serranía is impressive, the mountains are home to Griffin vultures, and are on the main migration route for birds travelling between Europe and Africa. In addition, the Serranía is home to the pinsapo, otherwise known as Spanish fir, an endangered tree that predates the last ice age. Around 26 varieties of orchid are also endemic to the mountains of Ronda.

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