Ronda was my first stop after a long, arduous plane and car trip. I had contacted this hotel via email months earlier and already established some dialogue with its proprietor, Jose Maria Orazco. If you email him, please try to speak Spanish because he knows not a word of English!
A suite right off a courtyard filled with flowers, greenery and an aviary of canaries was a welcome sight after my long journey of 24 hours. (My place of origin was Madison, Wisconsin.) Spanish design enchanted my sore eyes in the living room, bedroom, and kitchenette repleat with laundry facility. The price includes a full breakfast served in a cozy, family-room, just upstairs, by Jose Maria himself. He bakes the donuts and breads, makes the eggs, the cafe con leche is steaming. He shreds the butter just so with some delicious powder on top for the toast. He even placed a heater under the floor-length tablecloth, at my feet, so as to warm my legs as I ate in the November chill.
This small hotel is quaint, directly in the center of everything ... steps to the Internet Cafe, the Polo Bar where many gather to tell travel stories, restaurants, and the old walk mall where my first taste of Ronda was a hot chestnut peeled for me by a leathery-faced old man roasting them on the stone street. Hotel Goyesca has hot hot water to fill a big spotlessly clean tub, and a wake-up call for its guests. I slept 14 hours, and, in a daze heard Jose Maria calling me at eleven. He still graciously had the table set, and breakfast waiting for me! Later we took some photos, and he downloaded other photos that people have sent to him for me to view. I will be back for sure! The bill: 5000 pesetas- about 25 dollars.