On Tuesday, Manolo drove us south of Seville, to visit several historic places.

The first was a Moorish castle. Castillo de las Aguzaderas. It was built sometime after the Moors came into Spain from North Africa in the 700's. It was built on an earlier Roman construction.

Cindy taking a picture...

...of Donna and Manolo.

From there, we continued south to a picturesque town called Zahara de la Sierra.

This is the bell tower of one of the churches in town. We had quite a walk up the hill.

Because it's perched on these rocks on the hillside.

The town is watched over by this Moorish tower. You can hike up there and go in (if you first pick up the key), but we didn't.

This street was particularly steep.
Notice the handrail on the right.

The back of the mountain on our way out of town.

After Zahara, we went to Ronda. Ronda is known for several things. One is this bullring, which is the oldest operating bullring in Europe. Orson Welles's ashes were spread there.

Cyn couldn't help but get into the spirit. Toro! Toro!

Nearby the bullring is a nice park. At the end of this lane, there is a railing where you can overlook the countryside from five hundred feet up.

Looking north.

Looking down.

That cliff faced west. After taking in the view, we walked to the center of town, where there is a bridge over a gorge.

This is the Puente Nuevo, or New Bridge.
It was built from 1751 to 1793, and is 400 feet tall.

This is looking upstream (southeast) from the observation deck. You can see the Arab Bridge, built by the Moors (not the Arabs, I think). Beyond it, just out of sight is the Roman Bridge (built by the Romans, I think).

When the bridge was built, it housed a jail.
There is now a museum in it.

I had to kneel on the railing to get this shot of the west side of the bridge, and you still can't see it all.

Outside the gorge to the west, you can see the remains of a wall. Based on the shape of the doorway, one would assume this was built in Moorish times.

Ronda is a very touristy town. There's a lot to see there, including Moorish ruins. And shopping.

From Ronda, we continued south, to the Mediterranean Sea. Here is the Rock of Gibraltar. Through the haze in the distance, you can just make out the coast of Africa.

As we returned to Seville, there were very heavy rains.
The street in front of Donna's and Manolo's house was flooded.

previous: The Barrio

next: The Alcázar