Europe 2007

We travelled on the train for two hours this morning in the dark...the sun came up around 8am. Ronda is one of Spains oldest villages, once again a combination of Roman, Iberian and Arabian rule has meant a combination of culture, religion, architecture, art and cuisine. Ronda is best known for its bull ring which is arguably the oldest in Spain, founded around 1785. We took a guided walk around the town and then went to the shops to stock up for a picnic. We eventually found a place to relax in the park for the afternoon however this town along with others in Spain doesn’t provide many picnic areas, because most of the locals go to bars and cafes instead. We paid 6 Euro each to enter the Ronda bull ring and bull fighting museum. Bull fighting was originally used as a way to train soldiers on horseback with spears, the bulls proved good practice until one day they decided to fight the bulls one on one, on the ground, without the horse. The Ronda bull ring is only used one week every year when competitions are held as part of an annual festival in September.

A nice looking heifer in the bull ring...notice the foot, getting ready to charge!