Parador Ronda. The parador, formerly the town hall, occupies an eighteenth century building. Immediately in front there is a three hundred foot vertical drop, the Tajo canyon. The view is fantastic, particularly from the old stone bridge which traverses the canyon. This however is not suited to those suffering from a fear of heights. The interior is modern and spacious, there's an outdoor pool. Of particular interest in the town are several well preserved houses from the Moorish period. Movie buffs will be intersted to know that Orson Welles is interred nearby on a typical Andalucian finca (farm).
Parador Carmona. This was first a Roman hilltop fortress, then a Moorish castle and, in the fourteenth century,was converted into a residential palace by King Pedro the Cruel of Castille to house his favorite mistress. His sobriquet, incidentally, derrives not from the fact that he was any more bloodthirsty than was the norm for medieval monarchs, but rather from the circumstance that he made a serious effort to enforce the laws of the land, something that was greatly resented by the Spanish grandees who were accustomed to having things their own way. The parador, an imposing structure with magnificent views of the plain below, is hence something of an architectural mishmash. It's best features are the Moorish elements, done by the same craftsmen who constructed the Alhambra in Granada. The bedrooms are large and lavishly furnished, some in faux Moorish style. The inner courtyard is a thing of beauty. There's an outdoor pool. This is a great place to stay in order to visit nearby Seville if one wants to avoid the heat of the city in summer. It's barely a twenty minute drive and there's a regular bus service.
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