Ronda: Bullfights, Spanish heat, new Kings

 by MJ Malleck// 

San Pedro – July 1

Dear Charlotte:

We have just come back from Ronda – out 45 minutes up the mountain – fascinating – but very very hot today – so swim was very welcome. We flew to Madrid & stopped at Toledo and Granada on the way here. Our task here is to plan the new bit of garden. Love Betty See you in August.

Some mystery here – what is this planning of a new garden the author speaks of? And who is the other part of the “we,” since only Betty has signed. It could be, that on holiday, Betty and her companion(s) are discussing flowers and gardens to be put in back at home. Or perhaps it’s not a holiday but a paid trip to do some official gardening in Spain. I guess we will never know.

The photograph is of a famous landmark, the Arc of Felipe V found on Royal Street in the town of Ronda, in the Spanish province of Malaga. This is part of the Andalusia region of Spain. About 35,000 people now live in Ronda, and it is known for its cliff-side location and the harrowing road up the mountain (that Betty found fascinating). If you decide to take it, I suggest Gravol.

In 1936 The Story of Ferdinand was published by Munro Leaf with illustrations by Robert Lawson. When the bull in the story is brought to Madrid in a cart, we see a view of Ronda: the Puento Nuevo (“new bridge”) spanning the El Tajo canyon. The oldest bull fighting ring in Spain that is still used in in Rondo. Earnest Hemingway, who loved Spain wrote in Chapter 10 of For Whom the Bell Tolls about the execution of Fascist sympathisers thrown off a cliff, in a fictional village. It is thought to be based on a true 1936 event from Ronda. Ronda is also believed to be the setting for the fictional flower market in the 2017 animated movie Ferdinand (based on a classic children’s book about a passive bull at a bullfight).

Of course it was hot! Andalusia is the hottest part of Europe in the summer, with cities like Seville averaging above 36 degrees C (97° F). When I was in Seville in August 2018 we saw a thermometer registering 44 degrees C (111° F), and we appreciated the mid-day tradition of siesta.

The Felipe V archway was built in 1732 to replace the original Gate of the Bridge, as part of the wall surrounding the city. It’s adorned with royal crests from the house of Bourbon and the shell of Anjou (Felipe was born into the French royal family as Philip V, Duke of Anjou. His mother was the eldest sister of King Charles II (recognize the name?)

The stamps show us King Juan Carlos I and they are from the 1976-81 time period. King Carlos acted as a supporter of the Spanish dictator Franco, who named him as successor. Two days after Franco’s death, Carlos I ascended to the throne and began to dismantle his legacy and rebuild a democracy.

The King was popular until a scandal around an elephant-hunting safari in Botswana in 2014 (a broken hip, a tryst with a young mistress, paid for by a Saudi royal advisor when Spain’s banks were faltering and looking for bailouts.) It was rumoured that he would abdicate to his son, Felipe VI, and on June 2, 2014, he did, reportedly saying "No queremos que mi hijo se marchite esperando como el príncipe Carlos." ("We do not want my son to wither waiting like Prince Charles.”)

Ironically, it was just this week in London, England (September 8, 2022) that King Charles III ascended to the throne on the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II, who was 96 years old and Britain’s longest-serving monarch. Prince Charles had been the longest serving heir-apparent in British history, taking that role at age 3 in 1952. King Felipe VI was in attendance at the Queen’s funeral.