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Self
Guided Walking in the Almoravides |
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Self
guided walking trip: 8 days/ 7 nights
Ronda
Tarifa
Moderate
Start any day for self-guided
tours (min. 2 pax)Price 2008: €612
per person sharing (min. 2 participants)*
€135
* High Season Supplement
From 15-25 March and 30 June-16 September: €35
p.p
• 7 nights accommodation including breakfast in hotels (** and ***) and hostels,
with private shower/WC or bathroom.
• Luggage transfers (only take luggage with you in train day 5 and 7)
• Taxi from station Algeciras to starting point of the hiking route day 7
• Route descriptions and maps of the routes, designed by Otros Caminos (Copyright)
• Vouchers and additional info
This tour is a self-guided tour; ideal for those independent travellers. We organise
the whole journey: prebook your accommodation; transfer your luggage each day
and provide you with all the necessary information (full descriptions of each
stage, cultural and useful information about the region, a city map of Ronda,
monuments opening hours, suggestions where to have dinner or to have some tapas…).
This tour is suitable for all, combining easy walks through unspoiled mountain
countryside, valleys and villages, with train rides, a form of transport ideal
for getting to know your fellow travellers.
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For more information or e-mail us at info@govisitireland.com
Day1: Arrival in Ronda:
In the hotel you will find at reception an envelope with the maps and descriptions
and the vouchers for the hotels.
Depending on your arrival time you can visit the bullring (Spain’s oldest)
with its small but very interesting bullfighting museum. There are spectacular
views as you cross the bridge over Ronda’s famous gorge to take a stroll
round Ronda’s old quarter. You can head down to the river to visit the
13th Century Arab Baths, some of the best conserved in Spain and Europe.
Day 2: transfer by public bus to Grazalema, short circular walk:
If you have arrived early enough, then take an afternoon stroll through this
delightful mountain village to see the typical streets and houses, the Roman
fountain and the Roman road, the viewpoint from where you can even see woods
of cork oaks, from which cork is extracted.
It is also possible to do a short or longer circular route to the heart of the
nearby Sierra del Endrinal Mountains. The remains of shepherds’ refuges
(huts and corrals) show how important stockbreeding has been (and still is) in
this region, especially to make an outstanding delicious and exquisite cheese
made of milk from the local payoya goat breed.
Short walking option: 2,5hours, 6 km, 350m ascent
Longer walking option: 4 hours, 9,5 km, 500m ascent
Day 3: Grazalema – Villaluenga
(transfer by bus from Benaocaz to Villaluenga)
The route takes us along the famous “Salto del Cabrero” (Goatherd’s
Jump). The Salto del Cabrero is one of the most outstanding typographic forms
of the mountains: a fault with two peaks that look alike, as if they were twins.
The impressive vertical walls exceed 80 m in height and are separated by a gorge
of only 50 m. You also may see some big birds with wide wings and a short, square
tail circulating high. Without any doubt it is a griffon vulture that takes advantage
of the cornice and the cracks of the cliffs that the Salto del Cabrero offers
for nesting.
4-5 hours,12km to Benaocaz (5 km more to Villaluenga),500m ascent,500m descent
Day 4: Villaluenga del Rosario – Montejaque
You continue walking through impressive limestone rock formations, following
the white and red signs of the GR7 (it forms a part of the European path E-4,
which starts in Greece and runs through the Balkans, Central Europe, the Alps,
the Pyrenees and then traverses Spain and finishes in Gibraltar) towards the
Sima del Republicano and the Puerto de Correos Pass. In this beautiful landscape
of Holm oaks, you may even see the Iberian pig, a race you only find in Spain,
looking for acorns under the holm oaks! Where they slowly fatten to later make
the best Spanish Ham (Jamon Iberico). Later you get to the Líbar plains,
hiking gently over this deserted landscape to Montejaque.
5-6 hours,19km,250m ascent,430 descent
Day 5: Montejaque - Cueva del Gato-Jimena de la Frontera
Today you can first walk to the Cueva del Gato (Cat’s Cave). This is an
ideal place to start our easy route following the "Cañada Real de
Campo de Gibraltar" (an old cattle track), alongside the Guadiaro River
and the Bobadilla-Algeciras railway line. Once in Jimera de Líbar, you’ll
find a good restaurant for a succulent lunch, just next to the station before
taking the train to the picturesque village Jimena de la Frontera.
Crowned by its castle, the streets of Jimena follow the natural curvature of
the slopes until they reach the bottom of the hill, when they become wider. This
configuration of the village has created the attractive urban panorama of today.
Exemplary for these villages are the Arabic roof tiles, the whitewashed walls
that give the village its color and the typically Andalusian ironwork of the
windows.
The hostel is in the centre of the village, with a swimming pool on the roof
terrace and a nice cozy restaurant for dinner. 4 hours,13 km,400m accumulated
ascent
Day 6: Jimena de la Frontera, circular route
Make a nice circular route, with good views back to Jimena and out across the
beautiful Hozgarganta valley. About half way into the walk, you'll find some
rock pools for bathing and an old mill, a perfect spot for a picnic. At the end
you can make an optional half an hour along the river Hozgarganta and climb to
the ruins of the Castle of Jimena (13th century, declared a National Monument)
with its Roman origins before heading down to the village and enjoying some tapas.
4-5 hours, 15 km
Day 7: Jimena de la Frontera - Tarifa
This will be your last day walking on this beautiful journey. First you will
take the train to Algeciras, where a taxi will be waiting for you to drive you
into the Estrecho Natural Park. This park is located at the southernmost tip
of Spain, and covers approximately 18,930 hectares. Being in the privileged position,
of enjoying to seas, as it is exactly located at where the Atlantic Ocean and
the Mediterranean Sea meet. Its climate is extremely mild and has a dry season
where not a drop of rain falls for weeks on end. Thousands of birds fly over
this area year after year on their way to the warmer climate of Africa, where
only 14 kilometers separate Africa from Europe. Thus for hundreds of years this
area has also been an important route for mankind.
Your hike will take you down towards the sea and then following for some hours
the beautiful coastline, along rocky beaches and old military installations with
Africa always at sight in the distance.5 hours, 15 km
Day 8: Tarifa, end:
Today you can visit the famous Roman ruins of Bolonia and eat some fresh fish
alongside the sea before heading back to Algeciras to take the bus to Malaga.
Or decide the to enjoy the beautiful beaches, and surfers paradise and stay another
night in Tarifa.
Getting there (to Ronda):
Most common way is to fly to Malaga from Shannon & Dublin with Ryanair or
from Cork & Dublin with Aer Lingus.
From Malaga you have various options
of getting to Ronda:
By taxi: from Málaga Airport to Ronda costs approx. €115 (at night
and during weekends you will have to add a €20 surcharge – the transfer
can be booked beforehand and the driver will expect you with a sign and your
name at the airport)
Or by bus from Málaga to Ronda: You first need to get to the bus station
either by taxi (€20 – €25) or take the Bus No. 19 that leaves
right in front of the arrival hall – it leaves every half an hour, takes
about half an hour and costs €2.
Málaga bus station – Ronda (2hrs./ €9 )
Monday to Friday: 8'00, 9'00, 10'30, 13'00, 16'00, 17'00, 18'00, 19'00,
20'30
Saturdays: 8'00, 10'30, 15'00, 17'00
Sundays: 8'00, 10'30, 13'00, 15'00, 17'00, 19'00, 20'30
From the bus station in Ronda to the hotel it will be about €5 by taxi.
For further transport information please contact us on 066-9762094
Despite being Andalucía's fastest-growing town - it overtook Córdoba
in the big three Andaluz tourist attractions, behind Sevilla and Granada, in
the early 21st century - Ronda retains much of its historic charm, particularly
its old town. It is famous worldwide for its dramatic escarpments and views,
and for the deep El Tajo gorge that carries the rio Guadalevín through
its centre. Visitors make a beeline for the 18th century Puente Nuevo 'new' bridge,
which straddles the 100m chasm below, for its unparalleled views out over the
Serranía de Ronda mountains.
RONDA
Ronda is also famous as the birthplace of modern bullfighting, today glimpsed
once a year at the spectacular Feria Goyesca. Held at the beginning of September,
here fighters and some of the audience dress in the manner of Goya's sketches
of life in the region. Legendary Rondeño bullfighter Pedro Romero broke
away from the prevailing Jerez 'school' of horseback bullfighting in the 18th
century to found a style of bullfighting in which matadores stood their ground
against the bull on foot. In 2006 royalty and movie stars were helicoptered in
for the Goyesca's 50th anniversary celebrations in its small bullring, while
thousands jammed the streets and parks outside. Otherwise the bullring, Plaza
de Toros, is now a museum, and visitors can stroll out into the arena.
Across the bridge, where an elegant cloistered 16th century convent is now an
art museum, old Ronda, La Ciudad, sidewinds off into cobbled streets hemmed by
handsome town mansions, some still occupied by Ronda's titled families. The Casa
de Don Bosco is one such, its interior patio long ago roofed in glass against
Ronda's harsh winters. Its small, almost folly-like gardens lose out, however,
to the true star, a few minutes' walk to the furthest end of the Ciudad, the
Palacio Mondragón. Clumsily modernised in parts during the 1960s, this
still has working vestiges of the exquisite miniature water gardens dating from
its time as a Moorish palace during Ronda's brief reign as a minor Caliphate
under Córdoba in the 12th century.
www.esp.andalucia.com/provincia/malaga/serrania_de_ronda/ronda.htm
The
cobbled alley to the Mondragón leads naturally on to Ronda's loveliest
public space, the leafy Plaza Duquesa de Parcent, which boasts a convent, two
churches, including the toytown belltower of the iglesia Santa Maria de Mayor,
and the handsome arched ayuntamiento (council) building. Nearby calle Armiñan
leads down to the spacious plaza of the traditional workers' barrio, San Francisco,
with excellent bars and restaurants. Back from the Mondragón, the Plaza
del Campillo overlooks steps that zigzag down to a dramatic eye-level through
the Puente Nuevo. The town's pedestrianised 'high street', calle Espinel, opposite
the bullring, is nicknamed 'La Bola' and is where Rondeños go for virtually
everything
GRAZALEMA
Located in a high valley over 800m in the Sierra del Endrinal and dominated
by the magnificent rocky outcrop known as Peñon Grande, the pretty mountain
village of Grazalema is most popular base for visitors to the Sierra
de Grazalema Natural Park. The park is a vast protected area of rugged limestone
mountains, which are famous for being the rainiest place in Spain. These high
levels of precipitation account for the verdant vegetation in the surrounding
countryside.
The limestone peaks of 1,500m around Grazalema are the first barriers that clouds
from the Atlantic meet, causing plentiful rainfall. A unique microclimate has
developed where a wide range of flora flourishes, such as the rare Spanish fir
(pinsapo) that grows in the Sierra de Pinar close to Grazalema.
Grazalema is a lively village whose population of 2,250 swells hugely with the
influx of visitors to the park. Its steep, cobbled streets are immaculately kept
and are lined by whitewashed houses with windows covered by wrought-iron rejas
and plant pots spilling over with colourful flowers. It was famously described
in the 1950s by the British anthroplogist Julian Pitt-Rivers in his study, People
of the Sierra.
www.esp.andalucia.com/provincia/cadiz/sierra-de-cadiz/grazalema.htm
In
the heart of the village is an attractive main square, the Plaza de España,
lined with bars and restaurants. On this square is Grazalema´s central
sight, the 18th-century church of La Aurora. Also here is the village hall (ayuntamiento)
and the parish church, the Iglesia de la Encarnación. Up Calle Mateos
Gago from the square is the 17th-century Iglesia de San José, a former
Carmelite convent with paintings by a disciple of Murillo. Close to the church
is a viewpoint that looks out over the village.
The village was established in Moorish times by Berber settlers who discovered
a striking similarity with the mountains of their homeland and those of the Sierra
de Grazalema. They introduced sheep to graze the lush mountain pastures and produced
wool for ponchos and blankets to guard against the wet climate. In 1485 the Duke
of Arcos conquered the Moors in Grazalema but the cottage industry of producing
woollen blankets - the renowned mantas de Grazalema - continued, reaching its
peak in the 17th and 19th centuries, when wealth from textile manufacturing helped
to fund the construction of the village´s churches.
Grazalema still has vestiges of this industry today, with one workshop still
in operation making woollen blankets, rugs, ponchos and scarves, which are exported
all over the world. Visit the Artesanía-Textil de Grazalema, 956 132 008,
a workshop on the Ronda road where you can see looms and carding machines and
buy blankets and other textiles in the shop. Other locally produced handicrafts
include baskets and leatherwork.
If you're here in summer, go for a dip in the town's pool, on the eastern edge
of the village by the road to El Bosque, where there are some superb panoramic
views over Grazalema and the Sierra.
In mid-July, around the Virgen del Carmen fiesta day of 16 July, the village
holds its annual fiesta, with flamenco music, fireworks and a procession, culminating
in an exciting mini-Pamplona, where a bull is released to charge through the
streets
JIMENA DE LA FRONTERA
Jimena de la Frontera is a historic village located about
35 kilometers inland from San
Roque on the road and railway
to Ronda.
Surrounded
by the Los
Alcornocales Natural Park and at around 200 meters above sea level, Jimena
is a surprising contrast to the coastal affluence of the nearby golf and polo
belt
in the exclusive area of Sotograndebelow. The entrance to the town is an impressive three-arched gateway and having
been officially declared of Historical and Artistic Importance in 1983, the typical
Andalucian architecture is now being carefully preserved. Many British people
have chosen to settle there.
This gem of a village, has a fairly checkered historical past, having been inhabited
at various times by the Iberians, Phoenicians and Carthaginians as well as by
the Romans, who made good use of the rich metal deposits found there. Around
the year 750, it was of great commercial importance to the Moors, who also used
it as a strategic military point. Over the centuries Jimena was conquered and
re-conquered on many occasions and twice fell into the hands of the Christians,
but by in 1879, during the reign of Alfonso XII, Jimena was so highly considered
that it was given the title of Cuidad (Town). With a present population of just
over 9,000 inhabitants (some 1,000 of whom are foreign residents - many British),
its narrow cobbled streets and white washed Andalusian houses, it certainly retains
its village ambience and is a delight to visit.
The countryside around Jimena is as beautiful as it is varied. There are several
'cotos de caza' (game preserves) as well as rich forestland and mountains all
around. Then there are the fertile valleys of the villages of San Pablo de Buceite
and San Martín del Tesorillo, where orange groves and other agricultural
activities, irrigated by the River Guadiaro, are important local industries in
the area. From this description, you can begin to imagine how different it is
from the manicured golf courses and grand villa gardens, less than 40 kilometers
south on the coast. This village and its surrounding countryside is a joy for
nature lovers and those looking for calm and relaxation.
TARIFA
Ten kilometres of white sandy beaches, unspoilt countryside and some of the best
windsurfing conditions in Europe have established Tarifa as a true surfers paradise.
Just 11 km across the Straits of Gibraltar at its narrowest point, this southern-most
tip of Europe where the Med meets the Atlantic Ocean, enjoys spectacular views
of the Rif mountains of Africa across the water.
Tarifa's wild coastline attracts surfers and nature-lovers alike. Just as famous
for its birdwatching as its surfing, there are endless opportunities to explore
the rolling countryside. Horse-riding, hang-gliding, kite-surfing, rock-climbing
and diving to name but a few.
Tarifa has some excellent hotels, mainly located to the north of the town, so
if you just want to relax, there's plenty of choice.
TARIFA TOWN
This
little fishing town was the first point of the Moorish invasion of Southern Spain
in AD711. In 1295 Guzman El Bueno defended the town against the invading Moors.
According to the local legend, the Moors captured his son and threatened to kill
him if Guzman didn't surrender the town. He refused and threw down his sword
with which they killed his son.
Local fishermen still use the Almadraba method of fishing using a circle of boats
and nets, a practice which has not changed since 13th Century. The Tuna fishing
season generally starts at the end of March and runs for about three months.
The narrow cobbled streets, tumbling jasmine and beautiful wrought-iron rejas
make Tarifa old town a charming place for a stroll. The original castellated
city walls of this ancient town are tightly woven into the fabric of the whitewashed
houses. However, much of what we see today was constructed in the 18th Century.
Jerez Gate
The 8th Century Jerez Gate has been recently restored.Iglesia de la Misericordia
The cobbled streets of the village are steep and narrow. While it is possible
to drive up to the highest point and visit the castle, once the Moors vantage
point (built on Roman ruins), better still is an unhurried 15-minute walk up
through the little streets, taking in the village atmosphere. Then the views
even more worthwhile! Take care in the colder winter months, when rain can make
the steep streets slippery. Once in the castle enclosure, you have clear views
down the valley and over the bay to Gibraltarand
Algeciras.
As well as a visit to the castle, you can't leave Jimena without trying some
of the local gastronomic delights. Many of the dishes use the natural ingredients
found in the surrounding forest, or from locally grown produce. Try local restaurants
for; "Revuelto de esparragos" - asparagus in scrambled egg, and "Chantarella",
a type of wild mushroom. For something sweet, the 'Piñonate' is a specialty
in Jimena and is of Arabic origins. It is an artisan product of the surrounding
Los
Alcornocales Natural Park, whose recipe has been handed down through the ages.
Ingredients include olive oil, honey, almonds, cinnamon and orange peel. The
stunning countryside, historic interest and natural beauty are just topped off
with this delicious natural cuisine.
Annual celebrations in Jimena de la Frontera are:
• Carnival in February
• Agricultural Fair in the second week in May
• Annual Village Fair in the second week of August
• Devotion to the Reina de Los Angeles in the first week of September
• Annual
Music Festival (second week in July), featuring Classic, Jazz, Flamenco, Celtic
and Ethnic music
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