Ronda, Andalucia

If you're looking for a wonderful combination of 'spectacular' and 'muy historical' you just can't do much better than the city of Ronda in southern Spain,

The site has been occupied for thousands of years by Neandertals, Romans, Moors, Spanish and tourists, alternately invading, retreating or jostling each other, with time-out to purchase curios from enterprising locals.

Though the Chambers of Commerce of every city in Indiana would sell their souls to Fidel Castro to gain half of Ronda's appeal, those same enterprising Ronda folk nevertheless aren't convinced that peddling mere reality is sufficient to bring in the really big tourist bucks. Thus, they've piggybacked a few enhancements on to historical record to improve brand recognition and marketability of their product.

For example, there's the 120 meter tall Puenta Nuevo - 'new bridge' at left. ("New" means that its a mere 200-odd years old.) The structure's location and form are nearly surreal, but apparently that's not enough to sell Ronda sweatshirts. According to local lore, the bridge's designer never saw the first prisoner incarcerated in the central span's jail (reader activity: compute the number of strung-together bed sheets needed to escape) - he purportedly fell to his death while trying to affix a plaque commemorating his project's completion. While this hilarious, light-hearted story of a poor soul plummeting, screaming into the abyss of death may stimulate the tourista's gotta-buy-something-now hormone, the tale is poppycock nevertheless .

Next: it wasn't sufficient that Ernest Hemingway in effect acted as Ronda's unofficial publicist for many years before, during and after the Spanish Civil War, and that the town is still famous as inspiration for a scene in For Whom the Bell Tolls, whereby peasants rounded up, beat and threw a group of their fascist landlords over the cliff. Nope, this simply is not enough bling bling for the insecure locals, who claim that the building in the bottom photo is the location of the massacre. Of course, this is more poppycock. Hemingway says that his fictional description related a "higher reality" of events...doubtlessly put to paper during one of his famed anise benders.

The actual deal: During an uprising in 1936 ( a precursor of the Spanish Civil War), peasants periodically rounded up fascists - some accounts say as many as 512 in the first month of the revolt - and trucked them out of town (in a rig named Dracula) to be shot. One fascist did throw himself over the cliff, however, in apparent solidarity with Ronda's then budding tourist industry.

		Ronda (a famous place) If you're looking for a wonderful combination of 'spectacular' and 'muy historical' you just can't do much better than the city of Ronda in southern Spain, The site has been occupied for thousands of years by Neandertals, Romans, Moors, Spanish and tourists, alternately invading, retreating or jostling each other, with time-out to purchase curios from enterprising locals. Though the Chambers of Commerce of every city in Indiana would sell their souls to Fidel Castro to gain half of Ronda's appeal, those same enterprising Ronda folk nevertheless aren't convinced that peddling mere reality is sufficient to bring in the really big tourist bucks. Thus, they've piggybacked a few enhancements on to historical record to improve brand recognition and marketability of their product. For example, there's the 120 meter tall Puenta Nuevo - 'new bridge' at left. ("New" means that its a mere 200-odd years old.) The structure's location and form are nearly surreal, but apparently that's not enough to sell Ronda sweatshirts. According to local lore, the bridge's designer never saw the first prisoner incarcerated in the central span's jail (reader activity: compute the number of strung-together bed sheets needed to escape) - he purportedly fell to his death while trying to affix a plaque commemorating his project's completion. While this hilarious, light-hearted story of a poor soul plummeting, screaming into the abyss of death may stimulate the tourista's gotta-buy-something-now hormone, the tale is poppycock nevertheless . Next: it wasn't sufficient that Ernest Hemingway in effect acted as Ronda's unofficial publicist for many years before, during and after the Spanish Civil War, and that the town is still famous as inspiration for a scene in For Whom the Bell Tolls, whereby peasants rounded up, beat and threw a group of their fascist landlords over the cliff. Nope, this simply is not enough bling bling for the insecure locals, who claim that the building in the bottom photo is the location of the massacre. Of course, this is more poppycock. Hemingway says that his fictional description related a "higher reality" of events...doubtlessly put to paper during one of his famed anise benders. The actual deal: During an uprising in 1936 ( a precursor of the Spanish Civil War), peasants periodically rounded up fascists - some accounts say as many as 512 in the first month of the revolt - and trucked them out of town (in a rig named Dracula) to be shot. One fascist did throw himself over the cliff, however, in apparent solidarity with Ronda's then budding tourist industry. Note: This cool poster from the Spanish Civil War has little to do with our story. We needed filler.