Puente Nuevo

The Puente Nuevo — New Bridge — is neither new nor particularly small. It spans the El Tajo gorge at a height of 120 metres, connecting the old Moorish town of La Ciudad to the newer districts on the other side. The bridge is 93 metres tall and was completed in 1793 after more than four decades of construction. The central arch contains a chamber that has served variously as a jail, a tavern, and a tourist office.

The views from the bridge itself are dizzying, with the Guadalevín river threading through the gorge far below. For the best perspective on the bridge from the outside, take the path down into the gorge from the Mondragon Palace or cross to the Alameda del Tajo park on the west side and look back. The gorge walls reach 100 metres in places, with the white walls of old Ronda perched at the very edge.

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A story
The Puente Nuevo took 42 years to build, from 1751 to 1793. The first attempt at a bridge here collapsed in 1741, killing 50 workers. The architect Martín de Aldehuela also designed the bullring. During the Spanish Civil War, the bridge's central chamber — used as a jail — was the site of executions by both sides; Hemingway drew on local accounts of prisoners being thrown from the bridge into the gorge for a scene in For Whom the Bell Tolls.

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