Ronda Spain

 Ronda Spain is beautiful, quaint, and quite interesting.  There are remains of prehistoric settlements dating back to the nelolithic age.  You can see how steep this area is.  We're down in the river valley, looking up at the bridges and the town.

 The Celts called it Arunda ack in the 6th century BC.  Later The Phoenicians established near by and called it Ronda la Vieja, Arunda or Old Ronda.  Current Ronda has Roman origins, as it was a fortified post during 2nd Punic War, and by the time of Julius Caesar was named Ronda.

 Notice the wall completely around the village.  They had to keep people from falling.  The arch you see in the first two pictures with the bridge is located to the right in this picture.  Click if you need to enlarge it to see the details, and the depth of this gorge.

 Another view showing you how mountainous and picturesque the area is.  The large building is a hotel.  The village/town of Ronda was also called Hisn Ar-Rundah (Castle of Rundah) when it was Arab controlled.  At one time it was the Capital of a small Kingdom ruled by a Berber.  Islamic domination in the are ended in 1485 through out Spain.  After the conquests Jews and Muslims were forced to leave or to convert to Christianity.  Many converted publically, but continued to practice their religion in secret.   Many were persecuted and fled to the mountains here in Ronda.  Muslims who converted were forced to wear a blue star on their head dressings so they could be identified.

 Again the view looking up, myself, hubby, and Dear Friend Jane.

 In 1566 Philip, II decreed that the use of Arabic language was illegal, be it written or spoken.  Doors were to be open on Fridays so Friday Muslims Prayers couldn't take place.  There was an uprising and the Christians were overtaken.  Philip II declared those in Ronda should be killed and those who weren't were sold as slaves.  In the 9th century there was The Napoleonic Invasion and later The Peninsula Wars.  Given the land scape it's easy to see how it became an area for guerrilla warriors and bandits.

Hemingway and Orson Wells wrote about this period in Ronda's history.  Hemingway's "For Whom The Bell Tolls" depicted people being thrown off the cliff, which is believed to have been from Ronda's history.  The area was famous for it's bull fighting, and still has the oldest bull fighting ring in Spain.  Though it's a museum and not a ring any longer.

We walked the main street which is quite quaint with little shops and cafe's and enjoyed a glass of Spanish Wine catching our breath, as we waited for our tour guide to pick us up.

Do put Ronda on your list of places to visit.  We stopped here briefly on our return from a day visit to Seville.  I

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Spanish Paella

 Our first Paella, a must in the food department when traveling in Spain.  Many restaurants will only cook the dish for multiple people.  Such was the case in Old Town Malaga, where we toured after picking up our friend, Jane at the airport.  It's cook in a special Paella pan that looks like a cast iron skillet with 2 handles and seems to be a dish you do not order if you're pressed for time.  We noticed on several menu's it would indicated it might take 30 minutes once ordered.

 The first time we ordered it, we all 3 shared it and had too much food with the fact that we also order shared kabobs.  According to Wiki, Paella is a main dish of the mid 19th century from a lagoon in Valencia, Albufera (on the East coast of Spain).  It's an Valencia Rice Dish, a Catalan Dish. It can be fish, rabbit, duck or vegetables.  We ordered it twice in our travels, and saw it served many other times.  We noticed some difrferences.  Our first go round was difficult to eat, because all the seafood was still in it's shells.  You can see how wet, soupy the meal is.  Trying to hold onto a Lobster tail, snail, prawn etc to get the meat out was very difficult.  I ended up wearing some on my scarf and I believe Jane did as well.  I neglected to get the name of where we dined on that first day with Jane, as we were all pretty jacked up and talking a mile a minute.

The 2nd time it was order, was less oily, less soupy and the sea food was nicely already removed from the shells.  This was also made as a one person meal...though was too large for one person.  Jane ordered this the second time and said it was much nicer not fighting to get the meat out, better tasting and all together a better meal.  This was ordered in Marbella at a restaurant right next to Marriott's Marbella Beach Resort where we staying.  The restaurant, Merendero Cristina.  I'll blog more about it later...but the short story is, we ate there twice because it was soooooooo good.

**Suggestion, make sure you ask how it's prepared when you order Paella**

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Our Lady of Sorrows in Olde Town Marbella

 Olde Town Marbella is a quaint area of Marbella, the historic district that is a must see if you visit.  We walked, shopped, and ate and never tired of what there is to see.  This little blue shuttered area was a bit hard to see looking up to the 2nd floor, but you can click to enlarge and you'll see a religious symbol.

 Not to mention the most interesting and colorful and OLD Bourgainvillea Vine.  I covers almost 3 stories on this old house and look where the root is.

 Hornacina Virgen De Los Dolores.  Christian Faith was imposed on the city in teh XV century and many niches were made of Saints and Virgins on buildings, and balconies to bless the people and the city.  These are particularly common in areas with an Islamic past such as Marbella.  The house has been dated back to the 17th century.

 You can see the clay tiles on the roof, and there appears to be a pizza place on the top floor..or perhaps that's an old sign?  We couldn't tell.

Another sign talking about the many street niches and their importance.

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Newspaper Man in Malaga Spain

Malaga Spain.  Hubby, our friend Jane and I were strolling about Olde Town Malaga, the historic area.  We spotted this fun Newspaper Man.  I don't know how people do this, get themselves to be perfectly in character and then not move!  I saw 2 such human art forms during our visit to Spain.  This one patted the seat for me to sit down, then held my hand as we read the paper.

We flew from Chicago to Madrid to Malaga airport which is about 45 minutes or less to Mariott's Marbella Beach Resort, where we stayed.  If you missed yesterday's post, scroll back to see the resort.  A few days later our friend Jane flew into Malaga from Paris.  Once we picked her up, we headed to Olde Town for food and possible visit to The Picasso Museum.  We never made it to the museum, as we continued to stroll and explore.

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Marriott's Marbella Beach, Spain

 Welcome to Marriott's Marbella Beach Time Share in Marbella, Spain.  Hang you coat on the hook as you enter and pull up a chair.  The dining room is directly ahead and comfortably seats 6.  With a kitchen off to right in the picture.

 Off the kitchen is the utility room with laundry facilities.  Down the hall from the kitchen is the 2nd bedroom with 2 comfortable beds and full bath, which is to your left looking at the picture.

 Beyond the dining room is the living room and from there is the master suite.  Both bedroom are well appointment.  Love the details with Moorish style carvings, and bright colorful drapes and bedding.  Large closet on each side of the bed with a dresser across...more then ample storage.

 Looking into the bathroom from the master suite, you see the beautiful tile work which is apparent throughout the apartment complex.  In Spain, the time shares are called apartments instead of villas like other locations.

 Roomy, and comfortable living room with patio beyond.  This is probably the largest patio of any Marriott Time Share we've stayed in.  It was very nice!

 From our patio, we had a view of The Mediterranean, pretty flowers and pool and bar areas.

 We walked the beach and spotted some lovely flowers.

 Our Dear Friend, Jane and hubby.  While it wasn't swim suit weather in March-April when we were there, it was still very nice.

 More pretty flowers.

 One of the pool areas.

 View from our patio.

 And the other direction.

We were pleasantly surprised by a gift of a bottle of wine in our room upon checkin, along with a nice note thanking us for our membership level.

Marriott's Marbella Beach Time Shares are 1-2 and 3 bedroom units.  The two bedroom unit has 2 full baths, living room, dining room, patio, kitchen and laundry.  The 1 BR unit also had DR, LR, Kitchen, and laundry.  I didn't see a 3 BR, but the listing indicates the same.

  We found a regular coffee maker in the apartment as well as an Espresso Machine and the special coffee's to use with it, (though be aware, there is an additional charge for using those specials coffee's).  Another European difference was a bidet in the bathrooms.  Sounds like it would take extra time  to go to the bathroom using the commode and then the bidet...getting redressed etc.; but we had them here and in our accommodations in Barcelona as well.  Probably only seems strange to us Americans, which are not the majority of travelers we found staying here.  Additionally, we had nice cups and saucers in the kitchen, something not usually found in other timeshares.  In the states typically there will be large coffee mugs.  I rather liked having a nice cup and saucer.  Daily tidy service is also something we noticed here in Marbella Beach.  Normally, at time shares we take out our own trash, tidy the place, make the beds etc.  Service was a much higher level here at Marriott's Marbella Beach Club.

There are multiple pools, both inside and out.  Hot bread available daily in the market place.  The market place here is much larger and better equipped then what we're used to.  There are multiple options of dining, also right at the resort.  The first time since staying in a timeshare with a full kitchen that we've not cooked meals in.  The food in Spain, truly part of the experience.

We loved our stay and hope to return.


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