ENGLISH STUDENTS

Miguel...

and Julia

Within a year of us moving to Spain, we were kindly invited for a 'Paella' lunch by our neighbouring farm owners Juan-Carlos and Rosario. Sadly, due to a translation misunderstanding we let them down and have felt terribly upset and embarrassed ever since.

Therefore, you can imagine our delight, when they turned up on our doorstep one evening early in March, to ask us if we would consider helping their children Miguel and Julia with their English studies.

Obviously, we jumped at the opportunity, not only because of our feeling of guilt with regard to the paella fiasco, but more importantly it allowed us to give something back for all the kindness and support with have received from all of our neighbours since our move here back in 2007.

Miguel and Julia are two of the nicest children you would wish to meet and it has been an absolute pleasure to spend time with them and help with their English. They are both incredibly enthusiastic and keen to learn and it has been so rewarding for us watching them develop and Miguel has already seen a 15% improvement in his examination results. We are so proud of them both.

As a thank you to us, Miguel (who is passionate about the history of Ronda) wanted to take us on a tour of the places of interest the town has to offer, so last Wednesday the four of us set out for what was going to be a very memorable day!

He is a photographic summary of a small selection of the places we visited...

Statue of Ana Amaya Molina; Aniya the gypsy was born in Ronda 27th September 1885. She was a great singer and dancer who performed in the best places throughout the whole of Spain and with the best singers of her time.

'Los Ocho Canos' Eight Spout Fountain

Miguel and Julia take refreshment at the Los Ocho Canos, located in Calle Real, which evokes the glorious past of the district, the first commercial and social centre of Christian Ronda. A watering hole for both animals and humans

Padre Jesus Church....

...and in the background Espiritu Santo Church in the San Francisco district..

The 'Casa del Rey Moro' House of the Moorish King, which sadly lies in a state of disrepair due to negligence over the years. There had been talk of the property being sold to a German developer with the intention of turning this wonderful building into a hotel, but objections were raised by the local town hall and the plans were shelved.  

A different aspect of Ronda's most famous landmark...The Tajo Bridge!

Church of Santa Maria

The impressive altar of the Maria Auxiliadora Church

The house and gardens of San Juan Bosco, with it's wonderful patio of ceramic tiles and stupendous views of the Tajo valley and river.

The 14th century water mine.... With temperatures raging in the high thirties, we were not sure whether climbing up and down the 60 metre mine was a good idea, but we're really pleased we did, as it was a memorable experience.

The river at the bottom of the mine, from where in the past a human chain of slaves would collect water for the city in large skin jugs!

The bottom entrance to the mine....

The roof of the 'Sala de Secretos' (Room of Secrets) where what is spoken from one corner to another is not heard in the centre of the room....It was quite amazing!!

A view of Ronda from the City Wall dating back to the 11th century...

A self-portrait of Joaquin Peinado

One of the highlights of the day was the visit to the Museo Joaquin Peinado, one of Spain's most famous artists. Born in Ronda in 1898 he was a known follower of Cezanne and considered to be the spiritual son of Picasso. You can certainly see his influence within the 190 pieces of work displayed here. Being one of the most elegant painters of the known 'Spanish School' of Paris he died there in 1975.

We had no idea that such a fantastic gallery existed in Ronda and to our surprise the director of it was the aunt of Miguel and Julia, so we were treated to our own personal guided tour!

The beauty of having a day out with two teenagers, is that one is allowed to have lunch at McDonalds (Yes! There is even one in the centre of Ronda) so we had our first Big Mac meal in almost 4 years!!!

At the end of the day we were all exhausted, but still found time to visit Miguel and Julia's grandmother, who lives in the old part of the town and who coincidently is the neighbour of our dear friends Robert and Caroline.

Here endeth the longest BLOG article in history!!!