{"id":27304,"date":"2025-04-02T08:00:05","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T06:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.blog.fuertehoteles.com\/?p=27304"},"modified":"2025-04-02T09:02:57","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T07:02:57","slug":"ronda-what-to-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.fuertehoteles.com\/en\/destinations\/ronda-what-to-see\/","title":{"rendered":"Ronda: 10 things to see beyond the Tagus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Visiting Ronda<\/strong>, in the heart of the province of M\u00e1laga<\/strong>, is an attractive way to learn about Andalusia’s past. Palaces, Arab baths, watchtowers, Roman theatres and even primitive caves are available to visitors who can immerse themselves in a journey in time which unleashes the imagination.<\/p>\n

There are many poets and writers who have been inspired by Ronda<\/strong>. Writers of the stature of Juan Ramon Jim\u00e9nez define these towns as “the essence of the traditional Andalusian town<\/strong> where you can lose yourself” while Ernest Hemingway spoke of Ronda as “a truely romantic set”.<\/p>\n

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Arab baths<\/h2>\n

\"Bains<\/p>\n

Arab baths in Ronda, Nazari period (13th and 14th centuries). These are located in the old Jewish quarter and, despite their extraordinary architectural designs, were abandoned (Christian morality did not allow certain practices) and the flooding of the river Guadalev\u00edn eventually buried them.<\/p>\n

Excavations so far have allowed us to save the three bathrooms (cold, warm and hot) and the roofs with barrel vaults (including star-shaped skylights) which are connected by arches. They also still include some of the boilers and water conveyance systems.<\/p>\n

Uniquely, the complete structure has been preserved with the different rooms and facilities which it included, being the largest and best preserved baths on the Iberian Peninsula.<\/p>\n

Google Maps<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Palacio del Marqu\u00e9s de Salvatierra<\/h2>\n

\"Palacio<\/p>\n

Located in the historic area of Ronda and close to the Padre Jes\u00fas neighbourhood, it includes a splendid baroque fa\u00e7ade in ashlar stone with a lintelled door, Corinthian columns and a large balcony forged locally. The fa\u00e7ade is topped with a broken gable and houses nude figures with clear Indian influence.<\/p>\n

The male figures are mocking and sticking out their tongues; while the females modestly hide their “parts”. Both support the lintel in which we find the noble coat of arms of the Vasco Mart\u00edn de Salvatierra family, continuous heads from the Catholic Monarchs since the conquest of Ronda.<\/p>\n

The inside of the palace represents the austerity of palatial houses from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.<\/p>\n

Google Maps<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Iglesia del Esp\u00edritu Santo<\/h2>\n

\"Iglesia<\/p>\n

The “Church of the Holy Spirit” was erected by the Catholic Monarchs on the mosque that was found in the Arrabal Alto. It was consecrated in commemoration of the day when the city was taken. The building has a very consistent construction style. The work was probably completed in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. It corresponds to the Gothic-Renaissance hybrid style typical of the era.<\/p>\n

The temple has a single nave divided into three sections covered by vaults of very late starry crosses. The main chapel opens via a great triumphal semicircular arch with thick and high pillars fitted onto the wall. The front of the temple is occupied by an altar on which there are three coats of arms carved in stone: two of them belong to Friar Bernardo Manrique, in whose diocese the work was done, and the other is the imperial shield of the Austrias.<\/p>\n

Google Maps<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Casa del Gigante<\/h2>\n

\"Casa<\/p>\n

Located in the historic centre of Ronda, the House of the Giant is an Arab manor house built in the 14th century with parts reused from the 13th. The house takes its name from the stone reliefs, perhaps of Iberian origin, decorating the corners of the building of which only one remains in very bad condition. There is magnificent plasterwork inside decorated with floral motifs, some of which must have been richly decorated according to the polychromatic remains that are preserved.<\/p>\n

The Casa del Gigante is an interesting example of a stately building from the Muslim period in Ronda, the only one preserved from the Nazar\u00ed kingdom of Granada other than the Alcazaba in M\u00e1laga.<\/p>\n