Ronda

The area around Ronda has been inhabited since the Neolithic, and cave paintings survive at the Cueva de la Pileta. The town's direct origins lie with the Celts, who called it Arunda; the Phoenicians settled a nearby village they named Acinipo. The Romans consolidated the site during the Second Punic War, when General Scipio Africanus ordered the construction of the castle of Laurus, drawing a permanent settlement around it.

The town reached city status under Julius Caesar, and its people gained Roman citizenship. After Rome's fall it passed through Suebi and Visigoth hands before the Muslim conquest of 713, when it was peacefully surrendered and renamed Izn-Rand Onda — "the city of the castle" — becoming the capital of the Andalusian province of Takurunna. The scholar and polymath Abbas ibn Firnas was born here around 810.

During the Taifa period, most of the historic quarter's monuments were built. Christian forces under Ferdinand of Aragon took the city in 1485 after a long siege, after which new districts grew up around the old Arab core. The 18th century brought Ronda's most recognisable landmarks: the Puente Nuevo and the bullring, both designed by Martín de Aldehuela.

Ronda's most iconic structure is the Puente Nuevo, a bridge over the Tajo gorge with a drop of roughly 100 metres to the Guadalevín river below; it links the old and new parts of the city. The older Puente Viejo, of Arab origin, was rebuilt after the Christian conquest and now stands 31 metres above the river on a 10-metre arch. A third Arab bridge sits close to the Arab baths, which were built in the late medieval period and are among the best preserved in Spain.

The old quarter, known as La Ciudad, holds the Palacio de Mondragón — built in 1314, later used by the Catholic Monarchs, and today the municipal museum — as well as the Palacio de Salvatierra, the Casa del Rey Moro with its underground stairway down to the gorge floor, and the Alminar de San Sebastián. The Sanctuary of the Virgen de la Paz houses the city's most important sacred art, including a Cristo de la Sangre by Pedro Duque Cornejo. The bullring, one of the oldest and largest in Spain, belongs to the Real Maestranza de Caballería. The Jardines de Cuenca run along the gorge rim in a series of terraces. The San Francisco quarter retains a Gothic-Mudéjar church with an Isabelline Gothic doorway.

From the train station, a taxi to La Ciudad costs around €7; on foot it takes about 20 minutes. By car from Marbella, the A-376 climbs to 1,125 m through hairpin bends over a 43-km journey of 1–1½ hours; a stone memorial to the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke marks the highest point. Once in Ronda, park the car — the old quarters are difficult to navigate by vehicle, and some streets exclude non-residents entirely.

Two public car parks serve the Mercadillo district: an underground garage and a surface car park on Avenida Poeta Rilke, north of the bullring. ATMs are plentiful throughout the Mercadillo. Skip the tourist-area restaurants; smaller neighbourhood bars and cafes offer better value.

Local wines from nearby small wineries are worth seeking out, as is the local spirit Anis del Tajo.