No one expects the.......

Friday 14th December 2018 - Ronda.

.....Spanish Inquisition.  No Janice hasn't been having a go at me and neither have we been watching Monty Python.  I thought I would tell you about the Ronda connection to the Spanish Inquisition.

The Catholic Inquisition was a kind of authorised ethnic cleaning of the Middle Ages.  Ronda had been a Moor stronghold and many of the Islamic residents pretended to convert to Catholicism so they could continue to stay after the Moors had been defeated by the Catholics.  The Inquisition rooted out the Islamics and the Jews and named them as 'Heretics' and either killed them or drove them out.  Ronda suffered very much in this process and have an exhibition of the instruments of torture used by Michael Palin and friends...whoops, I meant the Spanish Inquisition.

Ronda's famous bridge spanning the gorge and the view at the top...

Ronda is also famous for its bull ring which was built in 1785 and is one of the oldest in Spain.

Yesterday we  did our sightseeing in the town and today we did a walk around the area and enjoyed the local nature.  The area is very much an olive growing area but we have seen lots of cork oaks, whose bark is used for corks and also for making cricket balls.  

The cork bark is cut off by hand and can regenerate after about 12 years.  Janice is checking this one out.

We saw a variety of wildlife....

As well as donkeys and goats we saw a Griffin Vulture (largest bird of prey in Europe) circling and I am sure I got a glimpse of a Spanish Beaver......a rare sight!

I know you won't believe this but we have splashed out on some fizz....our first bottle on our who trip!

We spent nearly 3 euros on it. Wow, I don't think we can afford much more!