Malaga and Ronda

March 31, 2017
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Travel
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We finally did it! My two womanfriends and I went on a weekend trip to the south of Spain and… it was magnificent!! We started out by taking the high speed train from Madrid to Malaga… I mean, seriously, why can’t the US get on with high speed railroads?? It is an absolutely efficient, fast and convenient, easy, reasonably priced, civilized and pleasant way to travel! It took us less than three hours to make the trip from Madrid to Malaga (529 Km or about 329 miles) and we spent the entire time comfortably seated, able to walk around and have a snack or dinner at the cafe, we enjoyed the beautiful landscapes of never ending olive groves, and, to be totally honest, we talked non stop for the entire trip comfortably seated around a table.

And… yes, we spoke so much, non stop, without breathing, without pause, with so much eagerness and excitement that at the end of the trip one man who had been seated next to us scolded us for making his trip “a nightmare”… it was actually quite funny, the man hadn’t opened his mouth or given us any look or anything at all throughout the trip (we thought he couldn’t hear us over his headphones), but just as we were approaching Malaga, he chose to reprimend us with a cliche quote (“can you hear that? It’s the sound of the train, and it is wonderful!”) and just leave us with the feeling that we had done something terribly wrong… how can it be frowned upon to talk with your friends whom you haven’t seen in months? If we were bothering him so, how come he didn’t say anything at all earlier on so we would have stopped making his trip so “miserable”? I mean, what was he trying to achieve by telling us at the very end when it was too late for us to make amends? Did he want to make us feel bad? Or did he just want to vent? Why remain silent and not make us aware of his discomfort earlier? Anyway, we found the whole situation hilarious and it actually provided us with further material for jokes and laughs during our trip… as if we needed any!! Hahaha!!

Upon our arrival we rented a car at the train station and we headed towards our hotel, the Hotel Miramar, right on the Malagueta beach… impecable service, totally new, nicely decorated and refurbished hotel with outstanding views and very comfortable rooms. We stayed in a room for three and although there were a couple of hiccups (the blackout curtains had fallen off the corners of the windows and the pull out couch didn’t work properly so they ended up bringing a sleeping cot), the hotel staff made sure everything was perfect and were incredibly attentive to our needs.

Our room was beautiful, with a gorgeous terrace and fantastic views to the beach. All the amenities were high brands and we were welcomed with a bottle of champagne (which we didn’t even opened, since I was jet lagged and exhausted, C doesn’t drink and V is totally pregnant), some fruits and sweets, and a nice bottle of Malaga wine (which is a delicious sweet wine made from raisins).

I had to finalize some work when we arrived, so by the time I was finished it was too late to wander around looking for an open restaurant. So we decided to stay local and dine at the hotel’s restaurant. The food was great! We had the omnipresent jamón (again, I’m vegetarian but my food regimen certainly always makes not only an exception but it actually mandates me to eat good acorn fed para negra jamón whenever I lay eyes on it!!), and some delicious fish and dessert. It suffices to say that we again did not stop talking for the entire dinner! We closed down the restaurant and pretty much got half way to saving the world!! The waiters were impressed with our linguistic abilities!!

After crashing exhausted on Friday night, we woke up Saturday refreshed and had breakfast in the hotel. The food offerings were varied, high quality and copious, served in a beautifully decorated bright room with direct access to the pool area and the beach.

We then headed out to walk around Malaga. It was nicer than expected. Unfortunately Malaga as a city is known for not being particularly beautiful, but we certainly made up for it by focusing on beautiful gardens like El Palmeral, Paseo España, the walk next to the Marina, and of course the Plaza de Toros, Catedral and the Calle Lario, with great shopping, full of activity and just a fun street to stroll through.

Once we had some snacks and rested for a while in a little terrace, we headed out to Ronda in our rental car. The trip took about one and a half hours (102 Km or 63 miles) and the landscapes and views were absolutely outstanding! We crossed over beautiful citrus trees groves, lemons, oranges, never ending bright green wheat fields, wind farms, olive groves, bright blue skies, wild red poppies sprinkled throughout the fields, yellow buttonweeds… the aromas from the orange groves filled the air, the views were an explosion of bright colors and of course we were singing out of our lungs the music playing on the stereo… it was a carnival for the senses!!

Once we arrived at Ronda it was like we traveled back in time and we were three maids living in a village surrounded by bandoleros and truhanes (Curro Jiménez style)! The town is incredibly quaint and beautiful, standing on top of a gorge through which a small river swivels, over large stone cliffs that look made out of play doh they are so exaggeratedly steep, smooth and perfect! Cobblestone streets are flanked by white stucco cortijos with pretty little patios inside to serve as cooling havens during the scorching months of summer… the bridges that join the different cliffs lay in impossibly narrow rocks and carry the voices of centuries old conversations, love declarations and feisty duels… Ronda made me feel like I was immersed in an old Spanish folk tale or a magical sanctuary for rebel souls… it was truly a dream like little grand town!

We arrived mid afternoon and after checking in our hotel (Hotel Montelirio) we rapidly headed out for some well deserved lunch. We found a tasca called Casa Ortega with the most luscious bright red tomatoes we have ever seen and we decided to order pretty much everything on the menu: tomato salad, jamón, grilled shrimp, asparagus… everything we laid out eyes on we ordered! We had a feast and after lunch we decided to return to the hotel to put on warmer clothing (Ronda stands more than 800 meters over sea level so it actually gets quite chilly there!) and rest for a while before heading out for more sightseeing…

The walk around sunset was tremendous… Ronda is truly a gem, each sight captured in legendary times full of romanticism and adventure. The Cañon del Tajo splits the village in half and you cross from one side to the other over a centenary stone bridge called Puente Nuevo. The surrounding walls embrace tiny beautiful cobblestone streets meandering between bright white villas and houses. It is a pearl of tourism in Andalucía but the Rondeños have been wise about not turning it into a tourist commercial trap, so even the souvenir shops maintain an authentic character (I got my kids a wooden sword with shield, a wooden bow and arrow which they love and two slingshots, all of them handmade and decorated with beautiful paintings of knights and the town landmarks). The orange trees line the plazas and the main streets and release a beautiful aroma of orange blossom that fills the air. Strolling around Ronda is like entering into a dream of fantasy and tales.

We had dinner at a wonderful restaurant called Carmen la de Ronda in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento… the menu was so varied and appetizing that we ended up ordering a lot more than what we could handle eating but damn it was worth it! We stayed at the restaurant until past midnight and afterwards we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel.

The morning after we continued our exploration of Ronda by visiting La Casa del Rey Moro, the Plaza de Toros and the Cathedral. Around 1:00 pm we headed back to the hotel to check out and depart back towards Malaga to catch the AVE back to Madrid. I could have stayed in Ronda for a much longer time but I promised myself I would be returning very soon with my entire family! Overall it was a wonderful weekend that allowed us to disconnect from our daily lives, reconnect with one another, and create life lasting connections between faraway places and times and our hearts and memories!

MÁLAGA: