From White Villages to the Rock

 Setenil, Ronda, Gibraltar

7-10 Mar 2026

We departed Camping Parque Ardales via another “scenic route” (MA 5403)… travelling past Embalse del Conde de Guadalhorce (the lake behind the main dam) – it was quite lovely for our morning departure.

Our destination would be Ronda (its all about the “bridge” really), but on the way we planned to visit Setenil (full name Setenil de las Bodegas)– one of the “White Villages” of Andalusia – and often claimed to be the”most beautiful”.  Another of its claims to fame is the way that the natural rock formations of the Guadalporcun Gorge are used in the construction of some of the houses in the village. But before that – a little more history. Like much of this part of Spain, humans have been living here for a very long time – in the case of Setenil – for at least 5000 years. At the time of the Reconquista Setenil was a road block for the Christian army of Castille  as it advanced on Granada (the last Moorish city to fall in the Reconquista). From 1407 to the reign of the Catholic Monarchs (aka Ferdinand and Isabel) there were seven sieges of Setenil, only the last one in 1484 was successful!  There was a plaque on a wall to memorialise this event…

But on to the images of this “beautiful village”…

Worth a comment, I watched the red BMW pass us… and it seems that they were not locals, as the woman in the front passenger seat was guiding the driver via a Google Maps route!   We also had an interesting lunch here (pork in one dish, very tomatoey meatballs in the other)… as we finished saying Grace the Chef finished it off with an Amen. Our shared language was minimal, but the essential message of faith got through! 

We walked the streets for several hours – enjoying the sense of the place, and visited the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación, which was built under the patronage of the Catholic Monarchs after the conquest of the town, it is very much in line with the constructions of the late Gothic symbolizing the triumph over the Muslim people at the end of the fifteenth century. Further underlined by a 15^th Century altarpiece, with significant Gothic aspects!

In the treasury of the church we saw what at first I thought was a monstrance, but was in fact a paso – which in this case is gilded, and is in essence a “float” – on which different figures may be mounted for display during Holy Week.

But how do people live in these villages – where, recall 70% of Spaniards live in “apartments”… this image provides one example.  They are generally multilevel, with iron grills across the windows at ground level, and sometimes on the second floor too. As most buildings are plaster over brick / cinderblock maintenance of the plaster may be a challenge – as will be finding places to dry washing – in this case in a stairwell which I suspect is very effective in summer, but perhaps not in winter (the alternative is a washing line on the outside of the building, well above ground level). And the electrical and communications service cables are directly attached to the outside of the buildings.

We moved on to Camping El Sur in Ronda – which is invariably known because of its iconic Bridge across the Guadalevín River which divides the town. And for its Bull Ring - the Plaza de Toros de Ronda, one of the oldest (built in 1784) and the best-preserved bullring in Spain. As we were trying to make up time – we decided to just overnight at Camping El Sur, and drive into the city the following morning – and parking in a motorhome parking lot. But when we got there, it was full (of cars mainly)… and the streets are narrow – so stopping to think is “challenging”… But Karilyn managed to find us an alternative Parking area where we got the last park that we could fit into… and it was near a very scenic lookout!

We just needed to trace our way back to that “bridge” and bull ring… and ultimately, walk down below the  bridge in order to get that iconic photo of the bridge and the waterfall. We walked along the cliff edge… it is a long way down to the farm land below…

Here, you can see just a few of the 300 million (and counting) olive trees that are grown in Spain… which in turn means that Spain is responsible for something like 40-50% of the global supply of olive oil (depending on the year).

But despite Spain's rich gastronomic history… modernity is present in its many forms!

And so onto the bridge… and the river gorge…

Yes we did walk down the 165m to get the photo of the bridge, but Karilyn wanted one from the very bottom of the gorge – so I left her to walk down another 100m or so. I sat and enjoyed the sun!  In the end – the best photo point was probably that at the 165m point – but who was to know that!

Then it was back to BF and onwards to Gibraltar. BF was parked on tway beyond the cliff in the following photo (training, you know!).

We left Ronda in the afternoon and headed for Gibraltar on yet another scenic route (N369), across the Sierra de Ronda. What can we say other than the villages along the way (all white) just seem to cascade down the mountainsides in a most charming way – as though an artist had designed the placement of the Church and each house…  

This is village of Atajate, 740m above sea level, between the Guadiaro and Genal Valleys… and of course, its roots go back to an 8^th Century  Moorish fortification here.

Looking at the hills along the way – there are white farm houses and villages dotted across the landscape – the latter often looking like snow.

And then… the Rock of Gibraltar hove into view on the horizon – it really does stand out against the lowland backdrop of the Spanish coastline in this part of Malaga Province!

Our parking place for the night was at a Marina adjacent to the border between Spain and Gibraltar. Typically, one parks on the Spanish side of the border, then walks across the border – which is just what we did… We had another reason for visiting Gibraltar too – which some may remember from our first post. We are going to be in Europe for more than 3 months – the maximum allowed for visitors to the Schengen Zone (with out a specific Visa – hard to get for a tourist)… But by re-entering the zone from Spain (after visiting Gibraltar), our time in Spain does not count against the Schengen day count (up till this time, this wasn’t the case, because we had entered the zone via Germany on 09/02) … so this needed to be “fixed”.  Now we are good to go… as we have 90 days in Spain before our Visa runs out… but as we leave on 3 June – we will be gone before that limit runs out!  Well, that’s the theory.

On crossing the border, and seeking tourist information we discovered that the cable car  to the top of the rock was out of action – for 2 years… and that to visit the various “sites on the hill” would cost £30 per person in entrance fees… and require a 4-5 hour climb!  But… if you go with the Gibraltar Taxi Association – it will only cost £56 per person, and that includes a guided tour, and entry to all the sites. It was a no brainer. We signed up on the spot!

But why is it British? In 1704, during the War of the Spanish Succession, a combined Anglo-Dutch fleet, representing the Grand Alliance, captured the town of Gibraltar on behalf of the Archduke Charles of Austria in his campaign to become King of Spain. As the Alliance's campaign faltered, the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht was negotiated, which ceded control of Gibraltar to Britain to secure Britain's withdrawal from the war. Unsuccessful attempts by Spanish monarchs to regain Gibraltar were made, with the siege of 1727, and again with the Great Siege of Gibraltar (1779 to 1783), during the American War of Independence. But British it remains to the day… a thorn in the flesh of Spain… that Franco sharpened between 1969 and 1982, by not allowing Gibraltarians to cross the border to the town on Spanish side - La Linea de la Concepcion.  Instead to visit La Linea – they first had to take a ferry to North Africa, then another … back to La Linea. To get back home to Gibraltar, the reverse route was required!

So here are some of the sights of Gibraltar.

The Pillars of Hercules (i.e. the end of the world… in an earlier time).

St Michael's Cave – with its angel formation – when properly illuminated… (very commercial... and a concert chamber too!)

A nice view over the harbour…

A visit with the Barbary macaques at the top of the rock.

An even more impressive view of Gibraltar’s place here at the western end of the Mediterranean.

Then on to the Siege Tunnels. But before that a little more history… During the Napoleonic Wars, Gibraltar became a key base for the Royal Navy and played an important role leading up to the Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805). Its strategic value increased with the opening of the Suez Canal, as it lay on the sea route between the UK and the British Empire east of Suez. In the later 19th century, major investments were made to improve the fortifications and the port.

As a result – over the last 200 years they beavered away making it even more impregnable by building tunnels within the rock. There are around 55 km of tunnels (this number varies quite a bit, depending on the source), nearly twice the length of its entire road network. The first tunnels, excavated in the late 18th century, served as communication passages between artillery positions and housed guns within embrasures cut into the North Face of the Rock. More tunnels were constructed in the 19th century to allow easier access to remote areas of Gibraltar and accommodate stores and reservoirs to deliver the water supply of Gibraltar.

The 20th century saw by far the greatest extent of tunnelling when the Rock was turned into a huge underground fortress capable of accommodating 16,000 men along with all the supplies, ammunition and equipment needed to withstand a prolonged siege. The tunnelling finally ceased in 1968 when the British Army's last specialist tunnelling unit was disbanded. Some of the resulting cavities are quite large - yes that is a fullsize Spitfire - a replica of the one that the loyal citizens of Gibraltar crowd-funded to buy, as their part of the war effort. 

After that it was merely a case of walking back to BF, via the Airport’s runway…

Yes – there are gates and traffic lights on each side of the Runway, and when an aircraft is planned to arrive or depart the gates are closed… until it is clear for people to resume walking, cycling and scootering across the middle of the runway (cars now go through a tunnel under the airport – previously, they just drove across it too!

After paying the parking fee for staying overnight (€15), we departed Gibraltar and headed for our overnight stop at El Puerto de Santa Maria – across the bay from Cadiz) on the way to Seville.

And about our training... over the last 5 days we have managed to accumulate another 64,000 steps.