Ronda

This past weekend I had a 5 day weekend followed by only 2 days of class. The reason being that there was a holiday (fiesta) on Tuesday for all of Andalusia, the autonomous community in which Granada is located. So of course we were given monday AND tuesday off. This is a very common practice among spaniards. One, that as a student, I fully support. So I had five days to relax and do whatever I wanted. Friday I spent almost the entire day in bed, sleeping, reading, eating, watching TV. Let me tell you, I'm soaking up every one of those days I can get. Saturday I spent running and then my new friend Kelli asked me if I wanted to go to Ronda, Spain with her. I said sure not really knowing exactly what Ronda was or where it was or what we could do there. So i Googled it and found out that it was a pretty famous Spanish place. It is home to the oldest bullfighting ring in Spain, there are some pretty cool bridges there, and the town has heavy moorish influence. Which is great if you are in a Islamic Culture in Spain class like I am. Really makes class not so boring when you can have some hands on experience. So we went. by train. which is spain is not too common. The trains are usually expensive and it is far better to take a bus. But the train ended up being the best, most direct option.

Kelli and I spent the better part of almost 3 days touring the town, sitting on top of ancient city walls, exploring, talking, sleeping, and staring at mountains. Just what I had needed. The place was gorgeous and i wish I could have spent more time there just wondering around. Anyways, here are a few pics from the weekend.

not bad..

i took 35 pictures of this bridge

Ronda

Kelli and I

bullfighting ring 

my best matador impression. Kelli happened to catch it on camera.

this is a little wall that the guys who help the matador run and hide behind when the bull starts chasing them. kind of like a rodeo clown..

Kelli trying to be a bull

we took a hike to the bottom of the gorge. so beautiful

so many abandoned buildings

amazing views

there was also a Vespa convention. 

train ride home

super blurry but it if I didn't know any better i would have thought i was in south Texas for about 5 minutes of the train ride

train station in Granada. 

So great to get away outside of the city. It is March now. This means I have 3 months left here. I absolutely can not believe how quickly the time has passed. so crazy! hoping to make the most out of my time left here.