Definitely Not Rhonda

Having a dog who lacked a certain affinity with sand, I was forced to look further afield for potential walkies and it was during such exploratory wanders that I discovered Ronda.

Perched about 750 metres above sea level on the El Tajo canyon – carved out of the rock by the Rio Guadalevín – the town of Ronda looks out across wide plains to the beautiful hills of the Serranía de Ronda beyond. Although reclaimed by the Catholic Kings in 1485, Ronda’s superb architecture also strongly hints at its Roman and Moorish history.

The Puente Romano (or Puente San Miguel as it is also known), the simple lines of the Puente Viejo (or Puente Arabe) and the magnificent Puente Nuevo all straddle the Guadalevín river that gives Ronda its character whilst at the same time neatly bisecting it.

The Baños Arabes, dating from the 13^th and 14^th centuries during the Moorish occupation, can still be visited below the town although sadly they have not weathered the passing of the intervening centuries completely intact.

Another of the town’s charms are the large town-houses once owned, and in some cases still owned, by Ronda’s titled families. Wonderful examples being the Palacio Mondragón and the Casa de Don Bosco with their gardens being well worth a visit.

I immediately fell in love with the town, but I was far from being its first foreign fan: historically Ronda could boast far more worthy admirers in the form of Orson Welles and Ernest Hemingway.

Hemingway especially was intrigued by the Spanish way of life, most particular by bullfighting, which inspired his novel “The Sun Also Rises”amongst others and the non-fiction works “Death in the Afternoon” and“The Dangerous Summer”. He remained an aficionado all his life, and as Ronda was the birthplace of modern bullfighting, they were well matched.

I have never been to a Corrida de Toros (bullfight) not would I ever go: seeing any living creature frightened and in pain does not constitute a good day out in my book. However, in order to gain a better understanding of my host country, I had to at least make an effort to learn about its customs.

Bullfighting has a long and complicated history and its origins still remain uncertain. One theory links it to prehistoric bull worship: killing a sacred bull being an essential act carried out by Roman soldiers wherever they were stationed. Another is that it gained popularity in the coliseums of ancient Rome alongside all the other bloodthirsty “sports” enjoyed at that time.

In Spain there have always been accounts of matatoros (literally ‘bull killers’) or toreadores entertaining the public with a rudimentary type of bullfight involving a lance and an agile acrobatic display as the men attempted to avoid the sharp horns of the bulls they were tormenting.

Trained horsemen also took part, but when bullfighting on horseback was prohibited by King Felipe V in 1723, the matador Juan Belmonte, soon followed by the rondeño (from Ronda) Francisco Romero, created the modern style involving close proximity with the bull, the muleta cape which is used towards the end of the corrida, and the estoque sword which was used to finally dispatch the animal.

In order to stage a corrida, you need various components: firstly and most importantly el toro bravo (the bull) which must be no less than four years old and between 450 and 600 kilograms.

Then come the toreros (the bullfighters), the most senior of whom is the matador (the killer, who also can be referred to as the diestro or the espada), proud in his tight and colourfully sparkly traje de luces (suit of lights), and sporting a black montera hat on his head.

Accompanying the matador are the subalternos who assist him when required (and permitted) by distracting the bull, during a sword change for example. The matador and his subalternos are collectively known as the cuadrilla (lit. the group).

The subalternos are composed of several different roles: bandilleros are responsible for the bandilleras (lit. little flags), the colourful sticks with the barbed end that are forced through the flesh of the bull’s back. The mozo de espadas (young man of the swords) is the matador’s closest assistant, helping him change swords and capes, and the picador is the horseman – who wields a large wooden lance with a metal point to tear wounds in the creature’s shoulder muscles  in order to provoke weakness through blood loss.

There are still many foreign tourists who chose to place a bullfight on their list of ‘obligatory things to do whilst in Spain’, but they may be surprised to know that over the  last couple of decades, growing numbers of Spanish people have chosen to strip away the thinly respectable cover of culture and tradition under which bullfighting resides, and have become vehement in their opposition to the “sport”.

At the time of writing, at least 70% of the Spanish population were said to be actively against it, and of the remaining 30%, a large proportion were indifferent, as opposed to being keen aficionados.

But for the moment, at least, heavy financial subsidies and die-hard traditionalists continue to keep the corrida fires burning. And certainly some of the more impressive Plaza de Toros (bullrings) are most definitely a sight to be seen on a quiet day when you can walk out into the centre of that sand-covered circle of dance and death and hear the echoed roar ‘¡Olé!’ of corridas past.