Ronda stands on a rock plateau that the River Guadalevín split in two with a gorge nearly a hundred metres deep. Joining the two halves took a bridge that needed more than three decades of work, and beside it rose one of the oldest and most beautiful bullrings in Spain. Twelve stops between the Alameda balcony over the abyss, the ring of the Real Maestranza and the film director who chose to rest in Ronda, the square where the Andalusian flag was adopted, the Puente Nuevo, the museum of the mountain bandits, the Mondragón palace, the church that was once the great mosque, the water mine of the Moorish King's House, the Old Bridge, the Arab baths, the Almocábar gate and the San Francisco quarter. Approximate audio duration: 19 minutes.
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Ronda: una ciudad partida en dos por un abismo de casi cien metros
Ronda se levanta sobre una meseta de roca que el río Guadalevín partió en dos con un tajo de casi cien metros. Para unir las dos mitades hizo falta un puente que costó más de tres décadas de obras, y al lado nació una de las plazas de toros más antiguas y bellas de España. Doce paradas entre el balcón de la Alameda sobre el abismo, la plaza de la Real Maestranza y el cineasta que quiso descansar en Ronda, la plaza donde se adoptó la bandera andaluza, el Puente Nuevo, el museo de los bandoleros de la Serranía, el palacio de Mondragón, la iglesia que fue mezquita mayor, la mina de agua de la Casa del Rey Moro, el Puente Viejo, los baños árabes, la puerta de Almocábar y el barrio de San Francisco. Duración aproximada de audio: 19 minutos.
Tour stops
12 stops · ~19 min of audio · 2.89 km on foot (~45 min walking) · about 1 h 15 min in total
You are in the Alameda del Tajo, a park of plane trees and stone benches. Walk to the railing at the far end and lean over. Below there is nothing: the rock drops straight down and, much further away, the valley opens out with orchards and farmhouses.
Ronda is built on a rock plateau that ends abruptly in these cliffs. For centuries, that made the town almost impossible to attack from this side. It was enough to guard the few approaches that remained.
The river that did all this is called the Guadalevín. Its name comes from Arabic and is usually translated as river of milk. Over millions of …
2
The Ring of the Maestranza
In front of you is the bullring of Ronda. From outside it looks sober, almost austere. If you go in, you will find a huge sand ring surrounded by two tiers of stone arches, with Tuscan columns and a roof sheltering the stands.
The ring belongs to the Real Maestranza de Caballería de Ronda, a corporation of noblemen founded in 1572, in the reign of Philip II. Its purpose was to train the nobility in horsemanship and arms, in case the kingdom needed defending.
The building opened in 1785. It is often called the oldest bullring in Spain, but that is not quite right: there are older ones, such a…
3
The Square of the Andalusian Flag
You are in the Plaza del Socorro, the heart of the Mercadillo, the newer half of Ronda. Look at the white church with its towers and, on one side, the building of the Círculo de Artistas.
This quarter grew up outside the walls after 1485, when the Christians conquered the town. Merchants and craftsmen settled here, which is why it was called the Mercadillo, the little market. For a long time, reaching the old town meant going down to the bottom of the gorge and climbing back up.
In January 1918, the Círculo de Artistas hosted what became known as the Ronda Assembly. Andalusian regionalists f…
4
The Bridge That Stitched the Town Together
You are standing on the Puente Nuevo. Lean over one of the side balconies: below, nearly a hundred metres down, the Guadalevín runs between walls of rock. On the other side lies the Ciudad, old Ronda.
By the eighteenth century the Mercadillo had grown so much that a direct crossing was needed. In 1735 a first bridge with a single arch was built. But in 1741 it collapsed, and around fifty people were killed.
Work on the present bridge began in 1759 and ended in 1793, thirty-four years later. It was directed by the architect José Martín de Aldehuela. It is often said that the architect died on…
5
The Bandits of the Serranía
Walk along Calle Armiñán, the street that climbs from the bridge into the heart of the Ciudad. On your left you will see the Museo del Bandolero, devoted to the men who for centuries lived outside the law in these mountains.
The Serranía de Ronda was perfect for hiding: steep ridges, few roads and isolated villages. And nearby was Gibraltar, British since 1704, from where smuggled tobacco and cloth flowed inland.
After the war against Napoleon, between 1808 and 1814, many guerrilla fighters went home with no work and with weapons. Some turned to smuggling and highway robbery.
Foreign Romant…
6
The Mondragón Palace
You are in front of the Mondragón Palace. The stone façade, with its doorway and two small brick towers, dates from Christian times. But inside it keeps courtyards that recall Muslim Ronda.
For almost eight centuries Ronda was an Islamic city. In the eleventh century it became the capital of a small independent kingdom, one of the taifas into which al-Andalus broke apart. Later it came under the Marinids of North Africa and then the Nasrid kingdom of Granada.
Tradition says that Muslim rulers of the town lived on this spot. After the Christian conquest it changed hands, and its present name …
7
The Mosque That Became a Church
You are in the Plaza Duquesa de Parcent, ringed with orange trees. Facing you is the church of Santa María la Mayor. Look at the front: instead of a grand doorway, it has a gallery of balconies, as if it were a house.
Those balconies were for watching what happened in the square. For centuries this was the parade ground of the Ciudad, the place for festivals, processions and proclamations.
Beneath this church stood Ronda's great mosque. The armies of the Catholic Monarchs took the town in May 1485, after a siege with artillery, and the mosque was consecrated as a Christian church.
Inside, n…
8
The Moorish King's Water Mine
You are in front of the Casa del Rey Moro, the Moorish King's House, on the Cuesta de Santo Domingo. The name is misleading: the house you see dates from the eighteenth century, and no Muslim king ever lived in it. What is truly old lies beneath.
From the garden starts the Mine, a staircase cut into the rock that goes all the way down to the Guadalevín at the bottom of the gorge. Hundreds of steps in the dark, through rooms and passages carved into the stone.
It is attributed to the fourteenth century, when the town was in Muslim hands. Its job was very practical: to guarantee water if an en…
9
The Old Bridge and the Gate of Philip V
You are by the Puente Viejo, the Old Bridge, a single arch over the Guadalevín. Here the gorge is much shallower. Beside you stands the Arco de Felipe V, a stone gateway crowned with a coat of arms.
This bridge was built in 1616, on the remains of an earlier one. For more than a century and a half it was the main link between the Ciudad and the quarters across the river.
The arch was raised in 1742, under Philip V, the first Bourbon king of Spain. It replaced an older gate in the town wall and marked the entrance to the Ciudad from this bridge.
Look downstream. Further below you can see ano…
10
The Arab Baths
You are in front of Ronda's Arab Baths, by the Arroyo de las Culebras, in what was once a suburb outside the walls. From outside you only see a few low domes. Inside is one of the best-preserved medieval bathhouses in the peninsula.
They were built between the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. They stood beside the river for a practical reason: they needed a great deal of water.
Look at the tower by the stream. A waterwheel worked there, lifting water and sending it to the baths along a small aqueduct. An animal turned the wheel.
The baths had three rooms: cold, warm and hot. …
11
The Gate of the Cemeteries
You are in front of the Puerta de Almocábar, at the southern end of the Ciudad. Look at the horseshoe arches between two towers. Beside it rises a sturdy church that looks almost like a fortress: the Espíritu Santo.
On this side Ronda has no cliff. It is the only flank from which the town could be reached on foot, so it had the strongest walls.
The name Almocábar comes from the Arabic al-maqabir, the cemeteries. Outside this gate lay the graves of Muslim Ronda, which by custom were placed outside the walls.
The gate dates from the thirteenth century. In the sixteenth century another entranc…
12
The San Francisco Quarter
You are in the San Francisco quarter, south of the walls. Turn around and look at the Puerta de Almocábar and the walls you have just passed through. From here you can see how Ronda looked to anyone arriving from the countryside.
This quarter began as a suburb outside the wall, on the side of town the cliff did not protect. After the conquest of 1485, a Franciscan convent was founded here, and in time it gave the quarter its name.
For centuries it was a district of orchards, livestock and fairs. Along these roads came the muleteers from the villages of the Serranía on their way into town.
T…
How long does the "Ronda: A Town Split in Two by a Chasm Nearly a Hundred Metres Deep" audio tour take?
It has about 19 minutes of audio across 12 stops and a 2.89 km walking route (~45 min on foot). Plan roughly 1 h 15 min in total, or split it up: you can pause and resume anytime.
Where does the tour start?
At stop 1, "The Balcony Over the Abyss" (coordinates 36.7437, -5.1679). The app guides you from stop to stop with a map.
Is it free?
Trevurs is a free app for iOS and Android. There is also an optional Premium version, from USD 1.99, with unlimited offline downloads, access to every tour and no ads. It also helps keep an independent app alive.
Why use an audio tour instead of a guided group tour?
No group to keep up with and no guide to wait for. Start at any time of day, on your own schedule. Go at your own pace: pause, rewind or skip any stop. No need to commit 2 or 3 hours to a single tour: do one stop or the whole route. Works offline once downloaded.
What languages is this audio guide available in?
This tour is available in Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian. Switch languages anytime from inside the app.
Do I need wifi to listen to this tour?
No. Download the tour over wifi before you go, then listen without any data connection.
How do I access this tour?
Download Trevurs on iPhone (App Store) or Android (Google Play), then open Ronda and pick "Ronda: A Town Split in Two by a Chasm Nearly a Hundred Metres Deep". No account required to start.
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No wifi needed · Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian
