Place to see: Ronda, Ronda, Spain

About this place:

Ronda is a city in the Spanish province of Malaga. It is located about 100 km from the city of Malaga, within the autonomous community of Andalucia.
Ronda is situated in a very mountainous area about 750 m above mean sea level. The Rio Guadalevan runs through the city, dividing it in two and carving out the steep "El Tajo" canyon upon which the city is perched. Ronda was first settled by the early Celts, but its Roman and then Moorish rulers are reflected most prominently in its architecture. The forces of Catholic Spain took control of the town in 1485.

Three bridges, Puente Romano , Puente Viejo and Puente Nuevo , span the canyon. The Puente Nuevo is the tallest of the bridges, towering 120 meters above the canyon floor, and all three serve as some of the city's most impressive features.

Another important site in Ronda is the Plaza de Toros, the oldest bullfighting ring in Spain that is still used, albeit infrequently. It was built in 1784 in the Neoclassical style.

Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles resided in Ronda for many years, and both wrote about its beauty, contributing to its popularity.
Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls describes the murder of Nationalist sympathizers early in the Spanish Civil War by being thrown from cliffs in a Castillian village, allegedly based on the killings that took place on Ronda's cliffs of El Tajo by the Republican forces.