{"id":52,"date":"2018-01-09T10:08:53","date_gmt":"2018-01-09T10:08:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lacazalladeronda.com\/2018-1-8-ronda-an-inspiration-for-writers-and-artists-and-la-cazalla-the-perfect-writers-retreat\/"},"modified":"2024-09-27T11:12:39","modified_gmt":"2024-09-27T10:12:39","slug":"2018-1-8-ronda-an-inspiration-for-writers-and-artists-and-la-cazalla-the-perfect-writers-retreat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lacazalladeronda.com\/es\/2018-1-8-ronda-an-inspiration-for-writers-and-artists-and-la-cazalla-the-perfect-writers-retreat\/","title":{"rendered":"Ronda: An inspiration for writers and artists, and La Cazalla: the perfect writer’s retreat"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u2018Retreat\u2019 – it is an interesting oddity that the dictionary meaning of the verb \u2018to retreat\u2019 is to withdraw from enemy forces, to fall back after a defeat, to run away or to change one\u2019s mind, attitude or plans as a result of criticism or difficulty. Yet the modern connection with the word is entirely more pleasant and positive; nowadays we dream of going on a yoga retreat, or unblocking our creative juices at a writer’s retreat or art or photography retreat. We think more often of a retreat as a quiet or secluded place in which one can rest and relax, a refuge, a haven, a sanctuary.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n


\n View fullsize<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"luxury_villa_rental_ronda.jpg\"<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/button><\/p>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n


\n View fullsize<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\""It<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/button>

\n
\n

“It is never too late to be what you might have been”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

The beautiful, mountainous city of Ronda in southern Spain has served as inspiration for many artists over the centuries. British author Mary Anne Evans, better known by her pen name George Eliot, famously named the title character of her controversial Victorian novel Daniel Deronda. Deronda is a Jew brought up as an Englishman, and his Spanish surname \u201cDeronda\u201d translates to \u201cfrom Ronda\u201d, understood as a reference to the character\u2019s Jewish ancestors who lived in the Spanish village of Ronda before the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492.<\/p>\n

In the first decades of the 20th century, the famous German poet Rainer Maria Rilke<\/a> spent extended periods in Ronda, where he kept a permanent room at the Hotel Reina Victoria (built in 1906). His room remains to this day as he left it: a mini-museum of Rilkeana. According to the hotel’s publicity, Rilke wrote (though probably not in Spanish) “He buscado por todas partes la ciudad so\u00f1ada, y al fin la he encontrado en Ronda” and “No hay nada m\u00e1s inesperado en Espa\u00f1a que esta ciudad salvaje y monta\u00f1era” (“I have sought everywhere the city of my dreams, and I have finally found it in Ronda” and “Nothing is more startling in Spain than this wild and mountainous city”).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n


\n View fullsize<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"luxury_villa_rental_ronda\"<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/button><\/p>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

\n

The views from the terrace of this old hotel are some of the most spectacular in Ronda, topped only by those from the rooftop bar of its new sister hotel, the Catalonia, which looms over the bullring and has the whole vista of the Sierra de las Nieves and the Grazalema mountains laid out in front of it. From here you can let your mind wander as far as the eye can see, with the aid of relaxing beverage of course!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n


\n View fullsize<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"luxury_villa_rental_ronda\"<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/button><\/p>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

\n

American artists Ernest Hemingway<\/a> and Orson Welles<\/a> spent many summers in Ronda as part-time residents of the town’s old quarter, called La Ciudad. Both wrote about Ronda’s beauty and famous bullfighting traditions. Their collective accounts have contributed to Ronda’s popularity over time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n

<\/p>\n

View fullsize<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

<\/p>\n

View fullsize<\/span><\/p>\n