We were told it would be hot and sunny all day in Ronda. So of course it was cold and drizzling, but I couldn't have asked for better lighting conditions for picture taking. Every half hour or so the clouds would dissipate long enough to get some gorgeous blue sky shots. This pony was right outside of the Corrida de Toros in Ronda. We started here on our walkabout and more or less made a big circle to end up here too. 
The bus ride to Ronda was overwhelmingly beautiful. I watched a storm gather over the mountains, saw amazing rock formations and really steep hills that were lined with the paths that herds of goats make while they graze. I wanted to stop every few minutes to take pictures, but of course we couldn't stop at all. I was heartbroken, thinking I had missed capturing all that scenery but then we walked out to the edge of the city and I saw this.
And this.
There was this big bridge and through it you could these flocks and flocks of white birds swirling around. It was magical, but I couldn't get a good picture.
View of the bridge from the other side. This balcony we were standing on was in a restaurant. I don't know what Javier said to get the stuffy maître d' to let us in but it worked. All twenty of us crowded onto the teeny tiny balcony to snap some pictures while all the posh diners inside looked on disapprovingly.
Ronda is just so pretty. Everything was white walls and flowers.
You know how I love fountains. There was a statue behind this one that everyone seemed pretty keen on getting a picture of, but I don't like statues as much.
Heather doesn't like this but I think she looks gorgeous. I was trying to take a picture of her taking a picture and she caught me just as I snapped it.
I just couldn't get over the sky. It went from overcast and grey to dazzling blue every half hour or so. Andrew (Webb) pointed that this picture is kind of misleading. It looks like a street to nowhere but really it just veers to the right.
There were all sorts of random little goodies tucked up around every corner. I'm not sure what this is but I like it.
We were supposed to listening to Javier tell us about the history of different buildings around Ronda, but I'm easily distracted so I'm glad he doesn't seem to mind when I wander away a bit and take pictures of the things that he is definitely not talking about.
Kitty kitty just sat and let us take her picture over and over again, scowling like a model.
The mountains are so gorgeous. I see them everyday but they still take my breath away sometimes. We walked down a winding path and through this door way to get the Arab bathhouse.
The bathhouse had star-shaped holes cut in the ceiling to mimic the sky. It was cool and damp inside. It's no longer functioning but they had running water soundtracks playing to help us imagine how it used to be.
We came out of the baths to be greeted by blue sky once again. And to have to climb back up to where we came down. Javier took us to a park where we could eat our lunches.
But on the way, I met this guy.
After lunch we regrouped at the Corrida de Toros. We were able to tour it and were told about how bullfights usually go. At that time I hadn't been to a bullfight, but I have since and promise pictures as soon as the internet allows.
I obviously didn't take this picture. Jose asked if he could play with the camera and I liked what he did. I always look better out of focus.
This marks the end of our Ronda trip. The rest are of Sevilla. We piled back onto buses and drove for a few hours to get there around six or seven. After we check into our hotel, we had tiempo libre until the flamenco show.
A very pink building. In this plaza there were people dressed up like aliens and little kids with face paint.
Chelsea has pretty much the same camera as I do and she helped me figure out the settings for taking decent night shots. I love when people come out all blurry in the back or foreground.
This is the front of the cathedral in Sevilla. It has a big tower on the other side called the Hidalga.
More of the cathedral. My pictures of the Hidalga were better the next day, so I didn't include my night ones here.
This was the only picture I took at the flamenco show that was worth posting. It was dark and I don't like how the flash looks. The show was surprising. I didn't really know what to expect but this wasn't really it. There was a girl dance, a boy dancer, a singer and a guitarist. They each took turns on stage to showcase their role in the production. When the dancers weren't on stage they clapped to the music. Or really they clapped against it. It was odd and difficult to detect a consistent rhythm but all together it made for a really unique sound. Then both the man and woman danced together. The whole thing is improvised. There are no choreographed steps and the people of the group that are not onstage watch and follow what the person on stage is doing.
We had a bit of difficulty finding our way back to the hotel, and I wore slippery shoes and was very annoyed with having to tiptoe around and focus on my every step. But then I found this little heart-shaped dry patch of sidewalk that I might not have seen otherwise.
The next day, we trooped over to the palace and gardens in our loud group of 80 Americans. I cannot express enough how much I hate when they make us do that.
There was a maze of hedges. Just like in Harry Potter. At least that's what I told myself while we walked through it. I kept thinking "like Harry Potter, not the Shining."
There was a little building and the floor had hundreds and hundreds of these little tiles laid in it. There were bunnies and windmills and foxes. Of course, I liked the bird one.
I don't know what this building is but after I took this picture we walked up there.
Whatever the building was meant to be, it offered a perfect vantage point for taking pictures of this waterfall. See that water down there?
It was full of these. Which I can only imagine are Spanish Koi.
Have I mentioned that Granada's national fruit is the pomegranate? The word pomegranate is actually from the word Granada. This is where they originated. There is one on this bench somewhere.
These may or may not be pomegranates. I'm not an expert.
My camera makes me brave. I snap pictures of brides, locals and other people's children. No one seems to mind, but I am always half-afraid that someone will start yelling at me in Spanish.
These are from the inside of the palace.
I had to sit down on the floor to take this picture and I still couldn't get all of it in the frame.
Vicky looked so pretty with that flower in her hair, I couldn't resist taking a shot while she wasn't looking
Something about the way the plant was taking over the water source struck me as perfectly appropriate.
My first helado since I came to Spain. Everyone else has been raving about it for weeks. It is orgasmically delicious.
More of the cathedral. After this we got to go inside.
There were very tall ceilings. One part was more ornately decorated than the other and we found it was because the ceiling had collapsed and been rebuilt.
I really liked this painting. Even the guy with the arrows sticking out of him looks just tickled about that lamb.
I didn't particularly like this gold thing but I did like what the light was doing behind it.
It was all very Catholic with lots of realistic renderings of Jesus.
Then we climbed the thirty-six flights of stairs to the top of the Hidalga. My camera also enables me to neglect my fear of heights in hopes of excellent pictures. I did a little bit of vertigo when I looked down though.
After the cathedral we had free time again until we left Sevilla. What we wanted more than anything was a nap, but we didn't have our hotel rooms anymore and so Chelsea and I went to find some grass to lie down on. We found grass but we also found five hundred thousand flies.
There was a pretty cool tree in the park as well.
We probably would have been better off if we had just sat here and leaned on each other and tried to nap.So that's Ronda and Sevilla. We took a trip to Cordoba this weekend and I'll try to talk about that soon. At least more quickly than I did this.
If you want to see more pictures here are the links:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2162608&id=38709220&l=356e9127eb
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2162748&id=38709220&l=f4d2e6aeb0
