The Bradburn Cavanagh Adventures

Christmas Eve! Day 2 in Ronda

Marianne here. Hopefully I can write this post a little more quickly than the last one…which almost got me fired.

I first want to do a shout out to our neighbor Trisha Tyo who checked in on our dog sitters and dogs during the crazy snow storm back home. Thank you Trisha for taking the dogs over to your warm house so the girls could go home and warm up. Hoping that things calm down with the weather and people are able to make it where they need to go for Christmas. We were not expecting nice weather here, but it was 65 degrees in the middle of the day yesterday👍

Ronda is amazing! We knew we only had one full day here so we made the best of it. The only thing we really knew ahead of time about Ronda was the very cool, very high, very famous bridge. We knew we were going to spend some time exploring that, but didn’t know what else we needed to see. Well, it turns out that there is also a very cool, very big, and pretty famous bullring here in Ronda as well. So off we went to learn more of the history of bullfighting in Spain and the creation of Plaza de Toros, the first bullring completed in all of Spain. We learned a lot…..here it is in a nutshell. Bull fighting started as a way for soldiers to prepare for fighting battles on horses. It eventually turned into a sport and went through different times of being outlawed and revered. Lots of bulls died in the process, surprisingly not many matadors. Here in Ronda, there is no more bullfighting but it is still a sport in other parts of Spain.😬. The Ronda bullring is now owned by a non profit organization and is used for local gatherings as well as horse riding classes. It was a very interesting tour.

After our tour we ventured over to the Puente Nuevo bridge to have a closer look. The bridge was constructed in 1793 to join the two sides of Ronda at its highest point. This is actually called the new bridge because the first one, built in 1734, was not well constructed and collapsed in 1741 taking 50 people to their death. The view of the bridge and from the bridge are stunning. Pictures do not do it justice.

After the bridge we found a highly rated but also secluded place for lunch, GastroMK. We all agree that this is the best food in Ronda! We may be going back for Christmas lunch.

After lunch, Mackenzie, Jacob and I headed on a walkabout to check out the lower bridges that cross the gorge and to stroll through Old Town.

Then, we headed home to gather the rest of our group so we could go to the Hotel Catalonia for a glass of wine and a commanding view of the city at sunset.

On our way home from our walkabout we had been questioning the large groups gathering at bars along the way so early in the evening. We have learned that many restaurants do not even open until after 8:00 PM. The fact that people were gathering in large crowds before 6:00 should have been a warning of things to come.

After our rooftop drinks, we went back home for a quick siesta before heading out to dinner. We had heard that it might be hard to get reservations on Christmas Eve, so the night before I called a few places and got through to one that gave me a reservation at 8:30. We decided to get a little dressed up (we only have one carry on each, so dressing up is all relative) and walked over to our restaurant. Unfortunately, it looked quite deserted! Eventually two people came out, looking very ready to head home for the night, and explained that I must have made reservations at their restaurant in Granada! Yikes. As we started back home, looking for maybe one place or one store that might be open, and not finding anything, we realized that this was our fate for the night. Christmas Eve dinner consisted of crackers, nuts, two bananas, one pear, a couple grapefruit, cereal, and some leftovers from the previous day. We did have two bottles of wine so we were able to make a toast and wish each other a Merry Christmas Eve as we sat down to watch Klaus. (We are saving It’s a Wonderful Life for Christmas Day this year)

There it is, definitely a surprise ending to a memorable Christmas Eve. I am grateful to my fellow travelers and their flexibility❤️❤️❤️