By Pablo de Ronda
Friday, July 1, 2022 @ 4:34 PM

Although it’s a city, with a current population of around 33,000, Ronda has always felt tiny. Just like Madrid, Berlin, Liverpool and London. They are really just big villages in the sense that most of what you want to see as a visitor is within walking distance.

    [Ronda Today]

In Madrid everything you want to see, eg Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor, Parque del Retiro, El Prado, Las Cortes, La Moncloa, is within walking distance or a short metro ride away.

In Berlin everything is centred around Checkpoint Charlie and the Alexanderplatz. Namely the Brandenburg Gate, the German Parliament, the Holocaust Memorial, the TV Tower, the remains of the Berlin Wall.

    Madrid [Turismo de Madrid]                                  Berlin, Brandenburg Gate [Hoteles Catalonia]

In Liverpool, the Anglican Cathedral, LIPA (Paul McCartney’s fame school), the gents toilets in the Philharmonic Pub, the Everyman Theatre and Paddy´s Wigwam (the avant-garde Roman Catholic Cathedral) are all on Hope Street. It’s then only a 10-minute walk via Matthew Street and the Cavern Club to the glory that is the restored Liverpool Docks with its Granada TV Studios, Tate Liverpool and Liverpool Maritime Museum.

Even in massive London most of the sights/sites are close together. The Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Madame Tussaud’s, Hyde Park, Harrods, Fortnum and Mason, the London Eye, the Royal Festival Hall, Tower Bridge and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre are easily managed in a couple of days.

    Hope Street, Liverpool [Facebook]                     London

Ronda

Compared to the above-mentioned cities Ronda really is tiny and all you want to see is within walking distance. 

Parque de la Alameda, Plaza de Toros, Parador de Turismo, Puente Nuevo, El Tajo, Casco Antiguo, Palacio de Mondragón, Plaza Duquesa del Parcent, Almocabar Gate, the Arab Baths and the Casa del Rey Moro constitute a walk of a couple of hours.

    Puente Nuevo, Ronda [Fenix]

But the main reason it feels like a village is that you are always bumping into someone you know.

This week alone I bumped into Clive and Elisabeth (ALDI), Antonio; Yaiza and Viviana (Décor Asia), Iain; Geoffrey (LIDL), Michael, Elaine, Malcolm and Hilde; María (Bar La Bodeguita), Nerea and Eduardo (Bar La Flamenca), Manolo and Carmen (Pizzería Michelangelo).

So, La Ciudad Soñada or Ciudad del Tajo, as Ronda is sometimes called, truly is a village or even, maybe, just a hamlet (aldea).

    Michael Coy [Poetry Soup]

***

Note: Some of these people the "Meter Maid" and I met when we went de tapeo on the eve of mi día santo (Peter and Paul, 29 June). For more about that little “pub crawl”, please read: 

De Tapeo en Ronda. 

Other articles of possible interest are:

Saints Peter and Paul

What’s in a name? Pedro y Pablo 

Note: The original version of this article appeared in July 2022 here:

Ronda is really just a village - Help me, Ronda

© Pablo de Ronda

Photos:

Facebook, Fenix, Karl Smallman, Poetry Soup, Ronda Today, Turismo de Madrid

Tags:

Alexanderplatz, Almocabar Gate, Anglican Cathedral, Antonio, Arab Baths, Berlin, Brandenburg Gate, Buckingham Palace, Casa del Rey Moro, Casco Antiguo, Cavern Club, Checkpoint Charlie, Clive and Elisabeth, Eduardo, Elaine, El Prado, El Tajo, Everyman Theatre, Fortnum and Mason, gents toilets in the Philharmonic Pub, Geoffrey, German Parliament, Granada TV Studios, Harrods, Hilde, Holocaust Memorial, Hope Street, Hoteles Catalonia, Houses of Parliament, Hyde Park, Iain, Karl Smallman, La Moncloa, Las Cortes, Liverpool, Liverpool Docks, LIPA, Liverpool Maritime Museum, London, London Eye, Madame Tussaud’s, Madrid, Malcolm, Manolo, María, Matthew Street, "Meter Maid", Michael Coy, Nerea, Pablo de Ronda, Paddy´s Wigwam, Palacio de Mondragón, Parador de Turismo, Parque de la Alameda, Parque del Retiro, Paul McCartney’s fame school, Paul Whitelock, Plaza de Toros, Plaza Duquesa del Parcent, Plaza Mayor, Puente Nuevo, Puerta del Sol, remains of the Berlin Wall, Ronda, Roman Catholic Cathedral, Royal Festival Hall, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Tate Liverpool, TV Tower, Tower Bridge, www.help-me-ronda.com, Yaiza and Viviana