Ronda

A poppy flourishing in a dry stony place
This mornings challenge is a short walk along the bottom of the valley to see Ronda and the bridge from another perspective.

Adventure racers who had to cycle, plod upsteam and then climb out of the gorge.

The Mondragon palace in Ronda was a cool sanctuary from the heat of the sun... especially after spending all morning out walking in it. We were able to take in spectacular views of the paths we had walked. The palace was designed around a central courtyard, with gorgeous colourful and scented gardens it also attracted wedding parties for photos.

By now the day was pretty hot and the next thing on my agenda was the Moorish baths... at the foot of the hill on the opposite side of town... and the Moorish Kings palace where there is a secret passgeway cut into the rock taking you 300 steps down to the river. This is the way the slaves used to bring the water up to the palace from the river. Riccardo considered the logistics of this plan (down and up the hill twice more) and sensibly took the afternoon siesta option while I set out in the blistering heat to complete my mission. The view over the baths and the aqueduct, old bridge and crazy old streets as I walked down was amazing. I looked out to see if there were any more adventure racers in the river but they were long gone. And

wished my camera battery had lasted a bit longer as the wedding couple were now having photos in the ruined bath complex. Very picturesque roman ruins.
From here it was a hot slog uphill again to the Moorish Kings palace with heat radiating off the stone and marble steps and walls. the palace was pretty decrepit with only the gardens and stairwell open to the public. Thankfully this time the climb back up was cool and dark.