Ronda’s Arab Walls and City Gates

City gates and defensive walls of Ronda in Andalusia
A secure city

Part of the reason Ronda is so important in the history of Andalucia directly relates to how secure the city was from attack.  The city walls in combination with the gorge and rio Guadalevin made Ronda’s Arab Walls and City Gates impervious from attack until the age of the cannon.

Whilst wooden palisades existed to protect neolithic communities and their successors before the constructions of the Roman castle, the reality is that most of the stone walls around Ronda directly owe their construction to the Islamic era, a period that spanned close to 800 years from 712 until 1485.

Read this article in Spanish here…

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Pueblos Blancos Music Festival 2023: A Cultural and Musical Experience in the Heart of Andalusia

Pueblos Blancos Music Festival

The 6th edition of the Pueblos Blancos Music Festival will be Thursday, July 27 through Sunday, July 30, 2023! Great music in spectacular settings! Fantastic national & international bands, playing in breathtakingly beautiful, ancient, mountain villages in southern Spain! Free entry! Scroll down for the list of concert venues, times and dates for the Pueblos … Read more

La Playita – The Little Beach in the Mountains

La playita at Zahara de la Sierra

Sometimes you just want to go to the beach but staying near Ronda means at least one and a half hour drive to the coast. However, not too far away at Zahara de la Sierra is La Playita in the area known as Arroymolinos. A fresh water pool converted into a beach. Perfect for swimming and sunbathing!

From mid June until mid September the little beach is open, and is only a 25 minute drive from Ronda, or 10 minutes from Zahara de la Sierra or Montecorto. Entry tickets are under 5 Euros for the whole day and babies up to 3 years old go free!

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Hotel Arco de la Villa – Zahara de la Sierra

Hotel Arco de la Villa - Zahara de la Sierra

The Hotel Arco de la Villa sits right on the edge of the mountain in the beautiful white village Zahara de la Sierra, very close to the old Moorish fortress, and surrounded by the Grazalema Natural Park. Built in 1998, the hotel provides comfortable accommodation and views of the lake at Zahara that cannot be matched.

Sixteen double rooms and one single room are offered, all rooms being air conditioned, and include a television, phone, and Wi-Fi Internet. Within the hotel there is a restaurant serving local cuisine, and in the village guests will find a decent range of other restaurants including modern contemporary styles. Reception is manned 24 hours, with staff knowledgeable about the local area.

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