We went to Ronda on a whim, and it turned out to be one of my favorite places in Spain!!

 

 

 

 Built on a gorge

 

 Marco and Marc

 

 

 

 

 

 Ronda is well known for being the birthplace of the father of bullfighting.  I can't remember his name, but he fought in the bull arena here well into his 80's and killed over 5,000 bulls!

 

 

 

 

 

 Aqueduct carved into the cliffs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The 3 boys

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Statue in the Alameda of the father of bullfights.

 

 The Alameda

 

 

 

 See those houses down there?  I could live there forever and be perfectly happy.  Especially if it had a pool...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The minaret of a 14th century mosque

 

 

 

 

 

 Belfry built on top of the minaret

 

 

 

 

 

 Houses built right on top of the rock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Wish we could have gone exploring down there.

 

 

 

 

 

 Arab baths

 

 Star shaped skylights

 

 

 

 

 

 drinking fountains

 

 

 

 The road to Tarifa as sooo much fun to drive.  Hugged the mountain the whole way.  The boys were jealous that I was the only one legally allowed to rent the car and drive it...

 

 

 

 

 

 Toros!

 

 

 

 Tarifa

 

 Me and Marc

 

 Mediterranean on the right, Atlantic on the left.  This is the southernmost point of europe

 

 

 

 Perfection.

 

 If we hadn't been on the way to dinner, I would have been swimming.

 

 

 

 Mr. Beachy

 

 The boys again

 

 

 

 The MOST incredible Moroccan dinner.  Can't wait for the real thing...

 

 Loving the signs in Arabic.

 

 

 

 

 

 Our walk to go get our car back from the police after they towed it, because somehow all 4 of us managed to miss the fact that we had parked in a loading zone over night.  The news that it had been towed came as a relief after all thoughts of it being stolen that we were thinking after getting to the spot where we were suuuure we had parked it and finding it missing. 

 

 THE ROCK OF GIBRALTAR.  one of my new top 3 favorite places in the whole world!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 It was hot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Monkeys!  With no tails.  They're endangered, and can only be found here and in North Africa

 

 

 

 

 

 And they're totally wild.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 If you look closely there's actually a tiny black one cuddling with the big one. sooo cute!!

 

 AFRICA!!

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a video of them monkeying around...

 

 The Atlas Mountains in Morocco

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Cheeky monkey!!

 

 The tourists in the car were actually loving it.

 

 

 

 St. Michael's Cave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Used during WWII as a military base, but also for weddings, picnics, concerts, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Starting our way up the meditarranean steps

 

 On top.  Very worth it and super rewarding.

 

 Morocco

 

 The breathtaking view

 

 Spain in the background

 

 

 

 

 

 The hike down the other side

 

 

 

 

 

 My idea.

 

 

 

 This is for the Boyds...

 

 

 We're off to Portugal tomorrow morning, back on Thursday for Starrett's 21st bday, then off to Morocco with Amy for a couple weeks before coming back to Spain and doing more Spain/Europe travels.  Hope you are all well, and miss you!!
Em
xx