Puntos de vista - a personal Spain blog

We took a two-day break in the Málaga area last week. We visited one beach resort/village we hadn’t known previously and several others which we had previously regarded as tacky and un-cool.

Well, we were wrong about that, weren’t we? They aren’t! What a delightful time we had everywhere we went.

We headed first for Fuengirola, to Cafetería Granier on the seafront for a late breakfast. Quite expensive, but scrummy! We’d been there a few times before, so knew how it would be.

I had booked a reasonably-priced hostal in El Palo, on the eastern edge of the provincial capital, so that’s where we headed next, in order to check in. It was clean and tidy and for 43 euros, an absolute bargain.

“Let’s go and check out the beach,” said Rita so off we went to Pedregalejo. What a delightful spot - lots of little inlets backed by a promenade full of bars, restaurants and chiringuitos. We sat at one in the sun. It was so hot and sunny, 22C, that Rita downed her several cervezas sin quicker than I my cervezas con!

Back to the Hostal Moscatel for a rest before getting washed and dressed ready for our posh dinner that evening. The international Costa Press Club, of which I am a member, were holding their monthly dinner at Verum, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Cerrado de Calderón, a barrio in the east of Málaga .

We decided to use Ubers there and back, which were a very cheap 5 euros each way including a generous tip.

The tasting menu was excellent. We chose the carnivore option, but the veggies were also very happy. The wine just kept coming too. We were so full that we didn’t have room for desserts. A great night, meeting new colleagues and chewing the fat.

The following morning at about 7 am I went in search of an early café, as is my wont, for my early-morning coffee.

On my return, Rita was finishing getting ready, so we checked out and headed to Los Álamos in Torremolinos for breakfast on the beach. The chiringuito, Playa de Los Álamos, has a significance for us. It’s where Rita and I went after I collected her from the airport in May 2021 after three months away in Germany recovering from a severe bout of Covid. The breakfast was lovely, sitting by the beach next to a stand of palm trees with the sun blazing down.

Then it was back to Fuengirola to collect pan alemán which we had ordered the previous day from Granier. (By the way, we used to have a Cafetería Granier in Ronda. It closed last year, inexplicably. There are four in Fuengirola alone!)

We took the coast road, and passed through Benalmádena, another Costa del Sol resort I’d never really been keen on. But it looked great in the sun and is probably worth re-visiting some time.

After a beer or several on the prom in Los Boliches, we headed to Restaurante Vegetalia , also in Los Boliches, for our free lunch. Free? Yep! At the 25 anniversary of the Costa Press Club, back in September 2022, I had won a voucher for 40€ for lunch at this restaurant in the raffle.

Well, apart from the fact that our lunch was free, we were treated to some lovely grub. A buffet, you could just help yourself to a choice of salads and hot dishes. All high quality and tasty. Once again, we didn’t have room for desserts.

Neither did we get anywhere near the 40€ we had available to spend, so we left the “change” for the bote. Delicious and not expensive. Owner Katja Gilan, from Finland, is the wife of CPC treasurer Peter Leonard, a journalist from Australia.

Then it was time to head home to Ronda. What a great couple of days we had spent. From now on I won’t hear a bad word said about places like Benalmádena, Fuengirola, Los Boliches and Torremolinos. And, as for Pedregalejo? Wow!

Check them out!

© Pablo de Ronda

By Pablo de Ronda

Do you remember the 1965 smash hit by the Beach Boys? "Help me, Rhonda" was about a girl named Rhonda.

This article is about a town named Ronda, the largest town in the Serrania de Ronda and its Comarca, in the province of Malaga, Andalucia.

New Ronda

With a diminishing population of 33,000 (down from 36,000 a decade ago) this town still gives me a thrill every time I go there. The atmosphere in the bars and cafes, as well as on the street, is buzzing. On Calle La Bola, the main pedestrian thoroughfare named after one of Ronda's famous sons Vicente Espinel (Calle La Bola is a nickname but everybody calls it that), life is there for all to see. From underdressed, fair-haired and sunburnt tourists to locals who have never set foot outside the town, meeting up for a coffee or a beer and a tapa, depending on the time of day.

There are clothing and shoe shops from the big chains, but also small, privately owned boutiques. There are shops specialising in local products (jamón, local meats, wine, honey, cork products), gents outfitters, jewellers, pharmacies, ironmongers, bakeries, confectioners, arab shops.....there's even an osteopath's clinic!

There are cafes, bars, restaurants, churrerias, even a Burger KIng. Nearby in the Plaza de España is a McDonalds. Who let that happen?

There are six big supermarkets outside of the centre and smaller convenience stores in town. Currently, we enjoy the competition and variety offered by ALDI, LIDL, Mercadona, Supeco (Carrefour), Super Carmela and Dia, although Al Campo are about to take over this national chain. That will leave the City of Dreams with two French, two German and two Spanish supermarkets. There is also Super Chisma, also Spanish.

There are a number of Chinese stores or bazaars, three large ones on the poligono industrial, and at least four smaller ones dotted around town.

The industrial estate is large and covers pretty much everything. In this writer's opinion, Ronda lacks a large DIY store, such as Bauhaus, BricoMart or Leroy Merlin. In the meantime there are a number of good builder's merchants. There is one garden centre in Ronda and another the other side of Arriate.

Most vehicle makes have a dealership here. Missing are Hyundai, Lada, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Saab, Volvo and there are plenty of back-street mechanics. There is an ITV testing station (MOT) and a breaker's yard outside of town

Most high street banks are represented, although BancSabadell is conspicuous by its  absence. They closed their branch a couple of years ago and their cajero shortly afterwards. However, I have discovered that you can withdraw cash with a Sabadell card from cajeros belonging to Unicaja, free-of-charge.

There is a full range of schools, an outpost of the Universidad de Malaga and a Music Conservatoire. There are a number of language schools, as well as private tutors. There is a new library and a tourist office.

For entertainment there is six-screen cinema, a theatre, other performance spaces, two theatre groups, and two or three reading and artists' groups.

For activities, there are three cycling companies, guided walking and bird-watching, buggy hire, horse-riding. Further afield you can take to the skies in a hot-air ballon, attached to a hang-glider, a micro-light or you can be a paraglider. There is canyoning, pot-holing, rock-climbing, pedaloes and sailing.

Ronda boasts three stunning murals dotted around the town.

Ronda's bullfighting heritage

Ronda boasts the oldest Plaza de Toros in Spain, and the one with the largest arena. However, the seating capacity is small, meaning that regular bullfights are not viable. Only the Feria de Pedro Romero, with its famous Goyescas, in September remains on the calendar. This is a shame for aficionados a los toros, for Ronda was synonymous with los toros. The Ordóñez/Rivera dynasty spawned some of the greatest ever toreros: El Niño de la Palma, Antonio Ordóñez, Paquirri, Fran and Cayetano Rivera. And we must not forget the afore-mentioned Pedro Romero, who got down off his horse and "invented" modern bullfighting on foot.

It was the bulls that attracted Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles, both of whom have streets named in their honour. Welles is buried just outside town on the finca of the Ordóñez family.

Old Ronda

Cross the magnificent Puente Nuevo over the Tajo and you enter the Casco Antiguo, the old Arab part of the town with its narrow streets, magnificent old houses, tiny squares, orange trees and much more. The "cathedral" and the Town Hall are here in the most magnificent of Ronda's squares.

Heading south you pass through the tastefully restored city wall at the Almocabar gate into the Barrio de San Francisco, surely the finest neighbourhood in the whole of Ronda. Here is a large square with six or seven restaurants to suit all tastes and budgets.

Help Me Ronda

www.help-me-ronda.com

I've just launched a new information website using an adaptation of the name of the Beach Boys' song.

It's not a commercial website, rather it's a public service hub - it merely seeks to be a one-stop-shop for information about Ronda and the Serrania - so I'm hoping the EOS moderators won't ask me to remove the URL.

Check it out. It's only been live for three days, yet has 128 members already. One of these is a newly arrived English lady who found a cleaner through the listings on my site. She contacted me to thank me.

What a great start!