Day 8 - Ronda, Organic Olive Oil and a special trip to Ramos-Paul

After a day that we believed could not be topped - wow!  We took a two hour drive to the historic city of Ronda - a city we had visited in 2002.


Ronda is one if the most beautiful cities in Spain - beautiful mountains, deep gorges and magnificent bridges and a beautifully maintained historic bull ring.  We had a 1 1/2 hour walking tour of the city and historic sites.  Unlike when we were there in 2002 when the temperature was over 100°, the weather was warm but comfortable.




Over lunch and siesta time, we visited the Ramos-Paul winery, the most beautiful winery we have ever seen.  Pilar Martinez-Mejias and Nane Ramos-Paul, the husband and wife owners, were masters at making our group of 10 feel like we were not just a tour group but personal friends visiting for the day.  Their home was beautiful.  Sixty five families help them with harvesting and making the wine yet we were wined, dined, and entertained by just this lovely couple.  We saw not another single soul the entire afternoon.

Pilar's family owns the largest brewery in Spain.  They showed us their home and winery, built by them, their grounds, their "bank" of wine (bottles from 2006 through 2016 being aged), the fermentation room with a dozen vats, and their underground horseshoe shaped tunnel (under Roman ruins) with the wine barrels.  The "bank" and the wine barrel storage were both underground and naturally cooled.




















After our tour, we were served tapas (patron peppers, spanish tortilla, Iberian jamon, lomo, bread, bull's tail croquettes) and wine from their cellar.  Nane cooked a rich dish with shrimp similar to paella.





As the wine continued to flow, they sang together in beautiful harmony as Nane played the guitar.


Then they announced they had a surprise for us.  Pilar stayed with us while Nane disappeared.  Then, she let us back to the fermentation tank room where Nane was sitting inside one of the vats motioning for us to join him.  Pilar crawled in and all 10 of us followed suit.  As we were sitting in total darkness, our back against the sides of the vat and our legs stretched out with our feet in the middle, Nane turned on opera music.  It brought many of us to tears.  What a tour - what a welcome - what entertainment!
After leaving Ramos-Paul, we toured an organic Olive Oil facility.  It was interesting and would have been more so except we had just toured a facility in Georgia a few weeks earlier.  Also - how do you follow the Ramos-Paul experience?  The views of the olive farm were beautiful though!


As we were leaving the sunset was magnificent.  It was the end of an absolutely beautiful day!


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