Spanish Heritage

After a busy day yesterday, today we continued with a trip to Ronda. We did at least get a small lie in before we headed towards the bus station on the other side of the city. It was just as quick to walk, so we made our way through the Old City, through Plaza Nueva before reaching the bus station.

It was a two hour trip to Ronda, through the flat plains of the Guadalquivir Valley, before reaching the winding roads climbing into the Baetic Mountains that divide northern and southern Andalucia.

Once we reached Ronda it was clear how much difference the mountain made, cooling the temperature by around 5˚C. In hindsight the shorts weren't the best idea...

We wandered into the town, just a short walk away, passing down the main shopping street, and Plaza del Socorro before reaching Puente Nuevo, the iconic bridge spanning the famous gorge.

The bridge sits 120m above the bottom of the gorge, and we spent some time wandering around different views of the bridge, before we took a walk through the old town, crossing the gorge and walking back up through the Jardines De Cuenca.

After enjoying the views of the bridge across the gorge, we made our way back up to Plaza España, before heading over to the bullring where we took a look around to understand more about this historic tradition.

This bullring has existed for almost 250 years. Whilst not on the same scale as some of the huge ones in the bigger cities, it was still in very much the same style. The Ronda School of Cavalry, the oldest in Spain, still has stables and a riding school next to the bullring which we could also view.

After some time taking in the culture, we went and grabbed an early dinner, with views over the area. Ronda sits atop a plateau, and before heading back to the bus station, we went for a walk around some of the footpaths on the cliff edge.

The coach station was pretty busy, with many of the day trippers on holiday excursions boarding their coaches back towards the coast. Unlike the one we arrived on, our coach made a few stops at some of the villages en route, which were actually quite pretty.

Once we arrived back in Seville, we then had a walk back through the city. We walked a different route than the one we made this morning, stopping at the Setas de Sevilla, a wooden structure somewhat resembling mushrooms.

In the basement of the structure are Roman and Moorish remains, which could be seen through the glass windows by the entrance. There is the ability to walk along the roof of the structure, but as it was a combined entry with an exhibition and entry to the ruins, we gave it a miss - it had been a busy enough day so far as it was.

We then made our way back to the hotel for our last night. Enjoying a bit more time up at the roof bar, before getting our stuff together before tomorrow's early start.

With a late afternoon flight, our trip over to Cordoba was both quick and early. We got up and went down for breakfast before checking out, dropping our bags in the luggage storage, and then made it to the station for the 8:43 high speed train.

I normally wouldn't pay extra for expensive high speed trains, but as we were pushed for time we went for it. In fact we got quite a posh journey in luxury seats for the 45 minute journey.

Cordoba normally has the highest average temperatures in both Spain and the whole of Europe. But today was a pretty cloudy day with constant threats of rainfall, reaching the dizzy heights of... 23˚C!

We left the station and then headed over to the icon of the city, the Cathedral. It was originally built as a mosque in 785AD, and was progressively expanded over time before being converted to a cathedral in 1236 after the Reconquista. It therefore is an excellent example of Moorish architecture embodied by the beautiful arches.

We pre-booked our tickets, which were for entry at opening time - 10am. A mass was just finishing as we were allowed in, so we got to witness that, as well as a relatively quiet and peaceful atmosphere.

After taking a look around, we left the complex and went for a walk around the riverside behind, and then along the beautiful Roman Bridge, looking back on views over the cathedral and cityscape.

We then made our way back towards the station, via the Jewish Quarter and leaving the old town through the Almodóvar Gate.

As we walked along the lush boulevard back to the station I received an email from Renfe, the Spanish Railways, to advise me of a delay to our train. We initially had 3 hours from our arrival back in Seville before our flight was due to leave. But as time went on, the train was progressively further delayed, before it eventually arrived in Cordoba almost an hour late.

By the time we got back to Seville, it meant we had to do a mad dash back to the hotel to collect our luggage, before returning and catching the airport bus. Thankfully our delay wasn't enough to cause any problems, and the worst thing about our arrival at the airport was the huge rainstorm that had just started. Having threatened all week, it finally rained. And it pretty much continued the whole time we were in the airport. Our flight was ultimately delayed because of the threat from lightning preventing take off.

For the first time ever, I boarded a Ryanair flight through a jet bridge! Together with the shelter at the airport bus stop, and having carried our raincoats with us everywhere, it meant we didn't actually end up getting wet.

As we flew back home, the whole of Spain was pretty grey, hidden behind the clouds, but not far beyond the French border the clouds cleared and there were beautiful blue skies for the whole of Northern Europe - bizarre!

It had been a very busy few days, and in hindsight probably a bit much. But it had been a lovely trip and interesting to see some of Spain's culture rather than just the beaches!