Got up at 8:00, finished packing, had nice breakfast with the group. Left parador around 10:00 with suitcases in their truck and us walking downhill with all our carryon stuff. Trip to Ronda was through nice farming land with olive, cotton, hay, corn. Did a potty stop along the way at nice village good for pix.

Drove to Zahara, a hill town. Big reservoir at foot of the city. Parked and climbed narrow, steep streets to the top and the church up there. Stopped in a deli and got some cheese which we shared back on the bus. Got into Ronda about 2:45. Lots of people and traffic. Quite a change from Arcos and Seville, even though a big city, was also different. I’m in room 14 of the San Gabriel Hotel, second floor. Nice rooms, old fashioned. Library even has a full set of encyclopedias along with yearly updates. I remember those.

I wandered around for about an hour and met the group for a walk at 5:00. We walked around the residential/shop center of the city. At one point, John and I split off from the group and sent down steep streets to the remnants of the old walls originally built by the Moors. Did climbing up and down on the wall and then steep ascent to get back to the hotel where we got a drink of water an were off again.

We were off the see a gorge that the  New Bridge crossed. Naturally, we had to go down steep pathway to get about halfway down to the bottom of the gorge and to viewpoints. Pretty neat. It’s supposed to be “the” picture to tank in Ronda. Climbed back up. Sat at the nearest restaurant. Most of the group thought they just wanted wine and beer. Pam, Bruce, and I wanted dinner at sat separately. Nice dinner. As we were finishing dessert, rest of the group comes back since where they wanted to eat was booked solidly as was another place. They sat down, asked us what we had eaten, and ordered. They were still eating when we left about 10:00.

Back to the room for downloading, showering, shaving, washing clothes and it’s now 12:40. Don’t have to get up early tomorrow. Will have free time after breakfast until 11:30 when we are going out with a local guide.

Speaking of walking, climbing, etc., here are iPhone stats:

10/3 13,900 steps, 19 floors, 4 miles

10/4 13,000 steps, 3 floors, 3.6 miles

10/5 8900 steps, 12 floors, 2.5 miles

10/6 11600 steps, 14 floors, 3.3 miles

Tired tootsies, not to mention the rest of me.

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