It was a beastly day today due to the weather. What should have been a day of outdoor exploring and photographing instead became a horrid day about trying to stay dry and warm. The rain was relentless. Plus we were fighting a cold wind that mangled umbrellas and crept into any and every opening in our jackets, parkas and slickers. For most, we lost the battle against Mother Nature and the ride home at the end of the day was like that of a defeated team. We rode in silence.
But let me go back to the beginning…
When we reached the Ronda area, our first stop was a GCT Discovery visit to the bull and horse ranch owned by matador Rafael Tejada. Before setting out on a bus-riding tour of the ranch itself, we were disgorged into their gift shop/museum containing the all-important restrooms.
The museum was small, focusing on Rafael’s bullfighting career. There were displays of some of his traje de luces (“suit of lights”). The head of a bull for which he had been awarded the ears and tail, a sign that he had particularly impressed the arena’s crowd, peered down from the wall. And there were posters from past events; swords; a montera (hat) and more to round out the collection.
Surprising us all, Rafael himself came into the museum to say hello and answer questions about his experiences as a bullfighter and the sport in general. (We would later see him in his van in Ronda after delivering horses to the bull ring.)
A little background on the man himself: Rafael was a self-made millionaire who was finally able to achieve his life-long dream of being a matador after he retired from his successful business.
Leaving the gift shop, we swung by the stables to view some of their Andalusian horses in their stalls. We then boarded the bus for a drive through the extensive ranch to view the bulls, cows and calves being raised. Unfortunately, water running down all the bus windows blurred most of the photos.
Leaving the ranch, we arrived at our destination: the town of Ronda. Cautously, we set out on what became a very wet, very cold and very windy walking tour to view the town’s primary tourist draw, the “New Bridge”, which spans the deep gorge that divides the town.
Struggling against the wind and rain, we pass two bronze statues honoring the famous bullfighters Cayetano Ordóñez and his son Antonio Ordóñez. Appropriately, they stand guard in front of the Ronda bullfighting arena.
Eventually, we reached the whole reason for our visit to this town, its stone arch bridge. Started in the 1750s, it spans the gap 390 feet above the Guadalevín River.
Of course, just to get the few photos above, I was grappling with driving rain and strong gusts of wind. Once done, Rob and I found a sheltered entryway at a former convent until Juanjo passed by, gallantly proceeding on to the next two “stops” on the tour agenda before dismissing everyone for lunch and shopping before departure.
We returned to McDonalds, where Peg — cold, wet and miserable — had dropped out of the tour much earlier without even having seen the bridge. Here, she had lunched, gotten warm and dry, and had awaited our return. I remained at the restaurant with her and Rob found himself an incredible tapas lunch elsewhere (left) before rejoining us to wait for the rest of the group so that we could leave this Circle of Hell and return to our hotel.
Dinner tonight was at a local Torremolinos restaurant. The food was decent and came with two-count-’em-two drinks. The balance of the evening was spent packing for tomorrow’s Easter departure for Córdoba and Seville and stressing about the change to Daylight Savings Time at 2:00 AM. Who could have imagined we’d have to lose another hour in the same year!
Spain and Portugal in Depth 
So sorry to hear about having to endure DST TWICE!!!
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