Ronda in Southern Spain

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Military Barracks in Ronda to be Demolished

Ronda’s old military barracks and headquarters, the Cuartel de la Concepción, is to be demolished to make way for a 200 place carpark.

Cuartel de la Concepción

Cuartel de la Concepción

Yesterday at 12:30 the first stage of the demolition of the old military barracks in the centre of Ronda began, with Ronda’s mayor Antonio Marín Lara looking on.

Known as the Cuartel de la Concepción, the barracks comprise an entire city nlock, bounded by Calle Chica, Calle Lauría, Calle San José, and Calle Naranja. The barracks are diagonally opposite Ronda’s bus station.

Recently the Ronda town council agreed to buy the dilapidated barracks from the Ministry of Defence for the sum of 3.6million Euros to be paid over a number of years. Since it’s abandonment several years ago the barracks have been over run by rats and mice, and parts of the building are now starting to collapse.

The heavy rains in December and January caused severe damage to the roof of the building adjacent to Calle Chica, and after roof tiles and chunks of concrete started to fall, a decision to bring forward the demolition was made.

Coincidentally, the headquarters of the PSOE is in Calle Chica and is one of the neighbours adversely affected by the possible collapse of the barracks building. Ronda’s Partido Popular (PP) have suggested the imminent collapse is a cynical excuse offered by the mayor to pacify the PSOE party faithful.

Demolition is likely to be completed in three months and will cost 600,000€, of which around 50% will be spent removing asbestos roofing, which under Spanish law must be removed by trained professionals and disposed of in a prescribed manner to avoid asbestos dust escaping.

Initially the interior of the building will be demolished by heavy machinery, and the waste used to build ramps so that the higher external walls can be pulled inwards without risk of falling on the street or neighbouring properties.

After demolition is complete, a parking space for upto 200 cars will be created, and the decision of what to do with the space left until after the next Ronda municipal elections. The PSOE favour building an underground carpark for 600 vehicles, and a new town hall above ground. The opposition suggest this isn’t needed and the space could be sold to generate income for the city.

Ronda Today was invited to attend the pre-demolition tour with Marín Lara, our photos are below.

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Category: News. January 29th, 2010
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Ronda

Ronda is one of Spain's most visited cities for good reason, our little city is very compact, in fact from arriving in Ronda, to seeing the Real Maestranza bullring, the Puente Nuevo, the many beautiful churches, our museums, or the wonderful coffee shops and tapas bars, we have it all within a short 30 minute walk.

Of course, most visitors need at least 2 or 3 days to see everything because a lot can be packed into your time in Ronda. Stay in one of Ronda’s many excellent hotels, with a choice of restaurant covering tapas in a local bar, menu del dia, or a la carte menu.

A walking tour of Ronda is a pleasant and enjoyable way to spend a lazy few hours, almost everything you could want to see in Ronda is no more than 200-300 metres from the new bridge.

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As one of the most visited cities in Spain, Ronda has a fantastic selection of hotels, hostels, guesthouses, and self-catered accommodation guaranteed to suit all tastes.

Whether it's just one night, or several weeks that you need we can help you find somewhere to rest your weary bones while you're in the city of dreams - La Ciudad Soñada.

Join great names like Orson Welles, Earnest Hemingway, Rainer Rilke, James Joyce, Jorge Luis Borges, Madonna, or Jamie Oliver who have enjoyed their time in Ronda.

Visitors who plan to make Ronda their new home should check out our property section, where we talk about some of the gotchas that can occur. Forewarned is forearmed.

Why Visit Ronda

A small city perched on a seemingly precarious platform of rock, Ronda is in fact an impregnable fortress only defeated in battle through trickery, and during the reconquest with modern (for the era) rock blasting cannon.

The mountains and valleys of the Serranía de Ronda are home to a tough breed of people, yet in Ronda these people are refined, some are gentry, some gypsies, others are just common folk, but all proudly call themselves Rondeños.

These days the population of Ronda is a little over 35,000 souls; big enough to offer all the essential services, but not big enough to suffer traffic problems or big city woes.

Rondeños have played a pivotal role in shaping Andalucía and modern Spain, and the city has hosted some of the great names of politics, the arts, education, and played her role in military events.

An hour from the Costa del Sol, Ronda is too far away to be heavily influenced by events on the coast, yet still close enough to benefit from the economic strength that tourism brings to Southern Spain. At a height of 723m, Ronda has a cooler year round temperature than the coast, making life in Ronda altogether more agreeable than other Andalucían cities.

Serranía de Ronda

Ronda is the biggest city in northern Malaga province, and the closest city to many of the smaller villages in Cadiz province, making Ronda an ideal base for exploring the Serrania.

Within a few kilometres of Ronda are some of the most visited Pueblos Blancos, the famous white villages of Andalucia, Setenil de las Bodegas, Grazalema, Gaucín, Juzcar, Benalauria, Montejaque, Teba, Cortes de la Frontera, Igualeja, the list goes on...

As well, Ronda is close to three natural parques, the Grazalema park, Alcornocales park, and the Sierra de las Nieves park. The Serranía is also home to pre-historic cave paintings at Benaojan, Neolithic dolmens at Montecorto, and of course, the Roman city of Acinipo.

The countryside of the Serranía is described as unique, in fact universally important. Many endemic species make their home here, including the pre ice age Pinsapa pine tree, and numerous orchids only found on our mountains.