Day 6 – Spain: Hiking through Ronda & Flamenco en Seville
We started our morning at 8am and dressed for a hike through the town of Ronda while mom and Jen slept in and planned to hang by the pool. I felt refreshed after a full nights sleep and was in search of the pathway to go under the Puento Nuevo bridge. It was fairly chilly this morning for Spain standards (63 degrees Fahrenheit) and I was in shorts and a tank top. We walked 10 minutes to Blanco y Cafe espresso bar for breakfast. The woman only spoke Spanish and we were the only tourists In the place, an excellent choice. Behind the coffee bar was a fresh slab of jamón iberico – I guess we know what we’ll be having for breakfast! We ordered two coffees, the toasts with jamón and queso, and churros con chocolate to share a sweet and savory breakfast.
After a quick breakfast we followed the AllTrails app to our starting point. I’m glad we did this hike because it took us down, through, and around the town of Ronda, up hills and viewpoints that you wouldn’t normally experience just wandering around the main streets near the bridge. At one point we were brought to a courtyard and it immediately smelled of fresh flowers (I wish I knew what they were). Eventually we reached the walkway under the bridge where we saw a group of middle aged women gathering by a shack. The sign said “taquilla” and Stelios thought they were all ordering shots of tequila at 10am which was hilarious. It was actually a sign to purchase tickets to walk the path under the bridge. We paid 5€ to enter and were given hair nets and hard hats to wear in case rocks fell. Only the first part of the pathway is open because the rest is still under construction, but it’s as close to the bridge as you can get and the views were incredible. Once the pathway is fully complete I imagine it will become a top tourist attraction for the city of Ronda.
After the hike we walked back towards the hotel and saw the bridge museum on the other side was open so we paid 2.5 euro to go down but it was very underwhelming. We learned that the bridge was started in 1759 and took 34 years to build — it was finally finished in 1793. They could definitely add more to the “museum” but I guess it was cool because we were technically inside of the bridge.
The hike worked us up an appetite so we stopped in a gourmet shop called Casa de Jamón where you could order all different types of Jamón Iberico. The waitress only spoke Spanish so I ordered us 2 orange juices, a sandwich that Stelios wanted from the menu photo and a Jamón de bellota bocadillo con queso. Everything was extremely yummy and the perfect snack to hold us over until we got to our next destination.
By 12pm we met up with mom and Jen, checked out of the hotel and drove 2 hours to Seville. Upon arrival our airbnb was the perfect 3 bedroom 2 bath setup with a cute rooftop area. Our host was extremely chatty while checking us in and I was starting to get hangry. Once she left we quickly walked to El Rinconcillo, the oldest and one of the most famous tapas bars in Seville, that was conveniently located only 5 minutes from our airbnb.
The servers were old school Spaniards and it felt like the Spanish version of Spirito’s in Elizabeth back home. When Jen told the server her allergies he said “ay dios mio” and did the Catholic cross while saying the Holy Trinity prayer in spanish (I guess he’s never met someone with so many allergies). For lunch we ordered a spread of tapas — I was especially excited that they had Salmorejo on the menu (a traditional Spanish cold soup with jam and egg) as I hadn’t tried that yet. Stelios and I both got Salmorejos, mom and Jen ordered the gazpacho soup, and we all shared the ham croquetas, gambas (shrimp), pork cheeks, and fried fish (Jen and I did not care for the fish but mom and Stelios enjoyed it). Overall the soups were the highlight of this meal which was a full circle moment for me — I remember learning about how chilled soup was a common traditional dish in Spain and I truly never understood it until now — In the Andalusian heat it was especially refreshing and delicious. For dessert we wanted the cheesecake but sadly they were sold out so we ordered the flan and Jen got the tocino de cielo — everyone liked the latter better. At the end of our meal we ordered a round of RuaVieja shots and they ended up giving them to us for free.
After lunch we walked to Palacio de las Dueñas but they were charging 15€ to enter which seemed excessive because it just looked like a pretty park to walk through. We continued walking but it was dreadfully hot (98 degrees Fahrenheit) so we decided to find a Gelateria to cool down. 4-6pm is the hottest time of the day in Seville this time of year and we definitely experienced the blazing heat first hand. By the time we got to the gelateria mom’s face was beet red and we all were hot and sweaty. I ordered 1 scoop of the mango and coconut gelato to cool down.
We lost track of time cooling down in the Gelateria and had to rush to get back to the AirBNB to change for the flamenco show. I had booked us the 7pm show at Tablao de Los Gallos, the oldest tablao (traditional place to see a flamenco show) in Seville. Jen tried calling a taxi first and it was only 8 minutes away, but then the time kept going up to 10 and 12 minutes. Finally we said, screw it and decided to walk 20 minutes in the hottest part of the day to the tablao. Not a good idea.
Jen and I speed walked to grab seats at the flamenco show. After sitting at the table for 5 minutes Stelios called me asking where we were. It turns out they went to the wrong flamenco show location! Luckily the man working the door was very understanding, said that it was no problem at all, and we could exchange our tickets for the next showing at 8:45pm. He was super accommodating and I apologized profusely but was secretly very happy and relieved we could see the next showing. Jen and I walked to the Premier Sherry cocktail bar where Mom and Stelios were, tried a glass of sherry to kill some time and then we all slowly walked back to the Tablao De Los gallos.
Because we arrived earlier, they sat us in the 2nd row which were better seats than we would have had if we stayed for the 7pm show. The flamenco show was excellent overall and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. Stelios and I agreed it was better than the one we saw in Madrid. After the show we grabbed dinner at a tapas spot nearby and shared the goat cheese with honey, ensaladilla rusa, solomillo al whisky, and pork cheeks. After dinner mom was very tired, we had walked a LOT today and the heat only added to it. We slowly made our way back to the airbnb and according to my Fitbit I racked up 30k steps and 11.75 miles for the day. A new record!
