J-Rehn in Spain: Hello Ronda!

So far, the city of Ronda has been my favorite school trip. Cordoba's beauty is in their incredible mosque and cathedral. Toledo's beauty can be summed up by its medieval town feel. Both have their own cons, but I think that Ronda definitely out weighs them all. Ronda's attractiveness comes from its nature. It’s beautiful views and bridges

The city got the name 'Ronda' back from when the Celts founded the city and called it 'Aronda', which means surrounded by mountains. Just like most cities in Andalucia (the southern regions of Spain) there is a strong and rich history between the Christians and Moors. The city sits in a very strategic location. It sits on the top of the ridge, and the views are phenomenal. You can see for what seems like a hundred miles.

The city itself is not huge, but it is so compact. Most houses have balcony's that overlook the 100+ ft cliffs everywhere around the city. Possibly the reason why I enjoyed this trip so much was the fact that we had mainly free time. Most trips, the teachers take us into cathedrals and talk all about them. I enjoy that don't get me wrong, but the talks can get kind of winded. Also, I'd never thought I'd say this but I'm kind of sick of seeing cathedrals.

When we first arrived, we headed over to the famous bullring in Ronda. Ronda is amongst the top 3 cities known for their bull fights in Spain, behind Madrid and Sevilla I believe. The ring is built out of stone, which is very unique to Ronda. Also, apparently it was in Ronda where bullfighters we know now in day were born. Bullfighters used to fight on top of horse, but it was here that the bullfighter first fought on foot.

Following the bullring, we had about 3-4 hours to wander around. The professors specifically said not to cross the stone bridge into the other part of town because they wanted to do the honors with us. But being the rebel that I am, me and a group of hikers crossed the bridge. Shout out to Randy Troyer for telling me that there was a water fall below, because if I didn’t know, I would never had seen true Ronda. This is most likely why I liked Ronda so much, the hiking. There are paths that lead straight down to the bottom of the bridge. The path is pretty scary, and steep. You practically are hugging the wall on one side, and then on the other side you have a huge drop off. It was totally worth it though. We even found a cave that went into the mountain. Caves are always fun, until you can’t see anything and step in mud. Paths led everywhere on the side of the cliffs. We just explored like little children, it was so fun. Tyler and I even hiked all the way down to the base of the waterfall, which was quite dangerous, but it’s ok, no one died. All throughout the hike, you have this awesome view. Even at the foot of the waterfall, you are still high up in the mountains and can see for miles and miles into the distance.

I tried to take plenty of pictures of the view, but once again pictures just don’t do it justice. Feel free to look at the picture on facebook because I have more uploaded there.