8th July - Ronda. They put on a wonderful breakfast at the hotel with some very interesting food that we are not used to seeing at breakfast including black pudding and fritatas.

I have noticed in Spain the local women dress very well and no one wears black. Their sun dresses are colourful and pretty with lovely sandals and they are generally slim. There also seems to be a distinctive fashion - shoes all have T bars and the off one shoulder or yoke neckline is popular in dresses, and only the tourists seem to wear shorts, enough about fashion!

It’s another perfect day in Ronda and we toured the Plaza de Toros this morning. It was in very good condition and has an extensive museum with costumes of the Toreadors as well as a gallery of firearms dating back to the 17th Century. We were able to go into the holding cells for the Bulls as well as climb to the top of the stands, the ring is one of the oldest in Spain with the first Bull fight in 1785. Ronda has just one bull fight a year now.

Next for the day was a visit to the Ronda Museum which is in the Mondragon Palace, I found this very interesting showing the development of civilisation from the area of Ronda since pre-historic times. Next stop was the Casa de Don Bosca an interesting 19th Century house and garden.

This afternoon we had a Mantecadas de Almendras which is a small biscuit style cake covered in icing sugar that when eaten has the impression of lemonade exploding in your mouth. Just delicious, unfortunately the dictionary describes it as cake made from Sugar, Almond and Lard. Now doesn’t that sound appetising?

Tapas for dinner tonight and a bottle of sparkling Rose – we will sleep well.