RONDA AND MANILVA.

WEDNESDAY 5th/ SEPTEMBER 2012.



BRIAN AND LILLI HERE IN SUNNY MANILVA WEDNESDAY – DAY 10.



As we were speaking to Brian and Lilli the other evening we discovered that they had not been to Ronda during their time here over the years so we put our ‘ Ronda Round Trip ’on the agenda; we set off mid morning out of the back of the village and up past Casares into the mountains, we then stop at Gaucin for pictures and then go through the old village and higher up into the mountains where we stop at an Mirador for more pictures of the grand valley of ‘ Genal ’before we stop for breakfast at “ Meson la Ermita ”as you can see in the picture below where the lady of the house made us very welcome; the route then takes us past the small white villages of Benadalid and Atajate before winding our way down to old Ronda.

The weather was gorgeous with clear blue skies and a little breeze as we arrived in what turned out to be a very busier than normal Ronda as it was the start of the ' Pedro Romero Fair ' the town was decorated and the ladies were out in their finest Flamenco dresses, we parked and walked through the park past the bull ring where later this week on Friday. Saturday and Sunday the finest bullfighters in Spain are taking part in the ‘ Grand Corrida De Rejones ' when attendees along with 'Torreros ' wear eighteenth century ' Goyesque ' clothing which helps to create a historic atmosphere.See the pictures above.

We then crossed the ‘ Puente Nuevo ’into the old town and showed the folks the sights including going into the ‘ Hotel San Gabriel ’ the famous bullfighter’s hotel, they very kindly showed us down to the very small wine cellar for guests and also the smallest cinemas with only five seats ! We then came back across the gorge and into the main shopping and bar area where we found a seat in the main square as you can see in the pictures below; we had a leisurely Tapas lunch sat outside the very busy and noisy ‘ La Taberna ’ – the stars of the Tapas were the small brochettes of Prawns and Ham – we could not stop ordering more ! We then came back down the famous road to San Pedro before heading back along the coast and up to sunny Manilva.

In the evening after our siestas we had our evening cocktails and nibbles before jumping in a taxi down to ‘ Restaurante San Rafael ’on the coast road outside Sabinillas; it was our big night out and we were not disappointed – we had the House Special “ Chateaubriand ” for four as you can see in the last pictures below, it does not look very attractive wrapped in Bacon but it was cooked to perfection.med-rare,and tasted delicious and was very succulent – it comes with a selection of fresh vegetables and a dish of oven baked crisp Lyonnaise Potatoes – and of course a sauceboat of ‘ Béarnaise Sauce ’ !! The house fresh Bread is also rather special as you can see – we had a fine bottle of Rioja to help things along before ending up on the free ‘ House Liquors ’Just another day here in Sunny Manilva !!!



Thought for the Day;




Friendship isn’t a big thing – it’s a million little things.




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