Ronda, Spain (07/08/2105)

I had been to Ronda before when I was younger, though I did not remember much of it. So when my aunt and friends proposed to go see this small town located in the north of the resort town we were staying at; Marbella. So once we reached the town of Ronda, about 1 hour drive, we parked the car right outside the city walls and continued on foot.  We passed under the Puerta de Almocabar, built during the Arab rule in the 12th century and later modified after the Spanish Reconquista during the reign of Charles V. The first thing we saw was the Iglesia del Espiritu Santo a nice looking church from the 15th century, that also had a bell tower which we climbed to the top; entrance ticket was only 1€, though I had expected it to be free. Next we reached the really pretty Plaza Duquesa de Parcent, with the Palace of the city hall and the really nice church of Santa Maria la Mayor. This church built in the 15th century, stands on top of a previously built Mosque dating from the 12th; traces of it can still be seen inside. Most of the interior however is in the Baroque style, especially around the main altar. Ticket entrance was 4,50€ for adults and 2€ for students. After the visit we walked on and reached the famous and beautiful Puente Nuevo, spanning the Guadalevin river at over a 100m from the bottom of the canyon, to connect both sides of the town. It is called New because it was built after, in the 18th century, the older bridge further up the river built by the Moors. After several photos we went further on and reached the splendid Plaza de Toros, one of the oldest in Spain and probably one of the most beautiful. I decided no to go in since it was one of the things I remembered well seeing the last time I came, and instead decided to look other things around town. So while the others were visiting, I walked to the Alameda del Tajo, a small park with a wonderful view over the canyon and surrounding landscape. From there I went back towards the city center, I passed by the Iglesia Nuestra Senora de la Merced which was unfortunately closed, and entered the Iglesia del Socorro which had a beautiful façade but a more modest interior. I then went back to the Plaza de Toros to pick up the others and head to have lunch. We stopped in a really small but quite good Tapas place and ate several different dishes. After lunch the other were feeling tired and I tried to convince them to visit other things and then head to Zahara de la Sierra a really nice village close by. However they weren't feeling like it so I was able to see only a few more things. Walking back towards the car, we passed by the Iglesia de Padre Jesus which was closed but a beautiful fountain right in fron of it. We then walked across the Puente Viejo, probably a roman bridge first and then later modified by the Arabs. Right below it we entered the Banos Arabes, or Arab Baths, that showed how nearly a thousand years ago, while in Northern Europe people still lived in huts and filth, over here there were public baths available to anyone! Furthermore though not too big, the arches and rooms were very interesting architecturally showing how the Arabs had learnt directly from the Romans. Walking back up into town we passed under the Arco de Felipe V and then further on we saw the beautiful Alminar de San Sebastian which used to be the Minaret of a mosque. We eventually reached the car to go back home in Marbella. I was unfortunately unable to see all the sights I wished to see however this mean I shall come back to this wonderful town again.

The Puerta de Almocabar

View over the walls and town

Panoramic view of the Puente Nuevo with the canyone and the surrounding landscape

View over the canyon towards the Puente Viejo

The Puente Nuevo

One of the streets in Ronda

View of the walls

The Arab Baths

The Minaret of S Sebastian

Salamanca (07/12/2014)

Another trip organized by Quebra Tour; we left Coimbra quite early, around 7:20 since the trip by bus would take around 4 hours. They decided to stop in Ciudad Rodrigo on the way, which I though was nice to see but we had only hour to see and was not worth the lost time for Salamanca. Though a small town, Ciudad Rodrigo has several interesting monuments, very noteworthy are the thick walls completely encircling the town with the Castillo de Enrique II protecting the southern part. Then we quickly saw the Plaza Mayor and finally the beautiful Cathedral, built between the 12th and 14th centuries and close by the Capilla de Cerralbo built in the 16th century which due to its size looks more like a church. So after this quick stop we got back on the bus and headed on towards Salamanca. We reached the city around 1pm and had a brief tour of the main monuments from the outside including the Cathedral and University. I then told my friends that we could just split off from the group and go by ourselves. We decided to see the Cathedrals first since they are the main monument of the city. Ticket cost was 4€ for students and included both cathedrals, old and new. They now look like one single church but actually, they are separate, the old one having been constructed between the 12th and 14th centuries in the Romanesque/Gothic styles while the new one, attached to the old one but much larger was built between the 16th and 18th centuries in Late Gothic/Baroque styles. We began by visiting the Old Cathedral first, that had numerous frescoes all around and many different chapels, rooms and tombs, including a small cloister; particular was the Capilla de los Anaya with beautiful tombs. Then we moved on to the New Cathedral, immense and beautiful, with various chapels and thick columns supporting the vaulted ceiling. The whole visit took us nearly 2 hours and once outside we were surprised to learn that even here the damages of the 1755 Lisbon eathquake had been felt, and in fact the façade of the Cathedral, following several restorations, had received new sculptures such as a dragon with an ice cream and an astronaut added in 1999. From there we walked through the city streets and ended up in Plaza Mayor, one of the most beautiful in Spain. We were then hungry so we decided to look around for a nice place to eat tapas. I also asked a few locals for some nice and cheap places around, and we eventually settled for a tapas bar whose name I can't remember. It was actually a really great place cause the tapas were quite cheap around 1,20€ each and were quite big too, plus once in a while the waiters would bring out hot plates of tapas which tasted really good so 5 stars for me. After eating we didn't really have time to visit anything else so we just went back to the bus while looking at churches and building from the outside. Once we reached the bus I spoke, in portuguese, to the bus driver who told me he used to live near Verona and would drive to Liguria very often. After heading back to Coimbra we did a brief stop at the border between Spain and Portugal to buy a few souvenirs and then continued on. On both ways since the guy from Quebra Tour knew I spoke portuguese, had me translate on the bus' microphone all the info for the non portuuguese speakers such as the plan of visit etc. A bit embarrassing but fun too. Overall I was quite disappointed not having been able to see much but I will definitely go back to such a wonderful city, especially for Patanegra!

Cathedral of Ciudad Rodrigo

The Cathedral in Salamanca

The Plaza Mayor

View of Salamanca from the bus