JMCBDDatlarge: Aparecida and AVE

Sunrise 8:30 AM

The train did 294 really.

October 17, 2017, Ronda, Andalusia--We arrived in Ronda about 1 PM after a 90 minute drive from Malaga Station. The AVE high speed train brought us from Madrid at speeds up to 294 kmh, though John only got a picture at 270. We watched the sun rise after 8:30AM from our train window after rising at 5:45 to catch it from Madrid. No problems but very early.

Yesterday, John's birthday, was quiet until the evening. We lunched on a couple of very nice salads at a restaurant founded in 1870 downtown, with a plate of black puddings, like English black pudding but held together with rice.

Birthday dinner with Tim

Meringue Birthday Cake

Chocolate Egg

Then for the evening Tim had made reservations for dinner at La Bien Aparecida, a superb restaurant with an excellent wine list. Ben chose Paletilla de Cordero, an outstanding Godello white with a lemony bouquet. The food was up-to-date Spanish varying from exquisite pre-appetizer amuse-bouche of miniature bocadillos of steak tartar, light and fluffy ham croquetas, and mussels in a silver colored coating. We joined these with a lovely cava. Next we had an anchovy and red pepper lasagna which was vertically arranged without pasta. The meal progressed to a casserole Madrileño style for John, which was a mixture of various kinds of variety meats, except liver and kidneys, with small pieces of beef in a thickened tomato broth. Ben had a monkfish filet which was artfully and exquisitely plated and tender, unlike any monkfish he has had anywhere before. Tim had lamb shoulder chops with a sweet sauce. Dessert was the pièce de résistance. To celebrate John's birthday Tim ordered a meringe over a lemon tart with fresh mango--and a candle. To accompany this we had a chocolate egg with a hard shell filled with runny fudge. The finishing touch, Madrileño style, was a round of light gin and tonics with lemon peel and a red berry. G &T's are the fashion in Madrid to finish excellent meals.

We were met in Malaga by our tour director, Barry Simpson of Your Andalusia, who is our historian, information source and driver for the next few days as we travel the country with just us in his SUV.

We have spent this afternoon wandering Ronda, a smallish hilltop town that goes back to Roman days being situated high above a river gorge. It's full of winding little streets and churches and other buildings dating from its long history. We lunched on grapes and bananas after last night's feast, while visiting various sites ranging from a 13th century minaret changed into a church tower, and buildings dating from the 12th through the 18th century lining the streets.