Ronda is the largest and most commercial of the white towns. The wind was howling when we drove in and there were hazard warning at all the terrifying tourist overlooks to be careful to not blow away. We found a motel and then braved the winds, which reminded me of the Columbia River Gorge. It's a tourist haven, so there were too many curio and souvenir shops, but the views were spectacular.
When we left the next day, we headed deeper into the mountains. The white towns got smaller. The road got smaller. And we happened on a living cork orchard. The views of other small towns played peek'a'boo all along the drive. We were tempted to find our way to each of them and walk there, but there weren't enough days.
Our destination was Arcos de la Frontera, which is a bit larger than white towns around them, but no Ronda. We had a B&B that was at the top of the converging narrow lanes, and from it we had a wondeful view of the agricultural valley and lake below. Arcos actually had suburbs down the hill. For the next several days, we explored the ancient town, ate well at friendly little restaurants, and learned the history of the Moors and Jews who once lived there.
A story we were told that I haven't verified, is that one can still tell which houses were built by/for Muslims and which were built by/forJews, all of them otherwise living side-by-side, possibly until the Spanish kicked out the Jews. Anyway, the houses that (when the front door is open) have a view through to the interior were built by Jews and those where walls enforced privacy on women were built by Muslims. We saw plenty of both, and there's good cause to think that the people living in the same neighborhood, in serious splendor, were of the same class.
That common practice in deserts is building around courts/gardens/water with long shaded entrances that cooled incoming air. All that good stuff. These were the folks who could afford their city luxury. We were staying in a rehabilitated fragment of that life in our lovely B&B.
Because it was steep, but walkable, we walked a lot. Really, the car was useless in town. On ground level, it felt like a safe, prosperous place, despite the lousy economic shape of Spain at that point. I think unemployment of those under 30 was about 30%. Whatever it was, it had been bad and prolonged in large parts of the country. The prosperous parts were across the north from Gallicia to Catalunya.
