Ronda
Ronda is 178km from Granada and it takes about 2 hours to get there by car or 3 hours by train. There are also various organised guided tours that include transport and which pick you up from the centre of Granada. Click here for more information about the Ronda guided tour.
Work on the first bridge began in 1735 in order to span the gorge in Ronda and connect the modern part with its street market with the older residential area of the town. The bridge was supported on a 35m arch and it only took 8 months to complete. Unfortunately, it collapsed soon after killing around 50 people. The "New" Bridge was started a few years later in 1751 and was finished in May 1793 and this time there is a tall, central arch and two smaller lateral ones. Above the central arch, there is a large room which was first used as a prison and during the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War, prisoners from both sides were kept and and there are tales of them being tortured and even thrown to their death into the gorge below. After the Civil War, the room was converted into a restaurant. It now houses an exhibition.
The bullring in Ronda is widely considered to be the oldest in Spain. However, while the first bullfight was held in May 1784, part of the stand collapsed during the event and there were no more fights until it could be repaired. By the time Ronda held its second inagural bullfight on 19th May 1785, Sevilla had already held its first bullfight. The bullring in Ronda is however the largest one in Spain in terms of the central circular area and it is 6 metre larger than the Las Ventas bullring in Madrid.