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Natural Viewpoint of the Romantic Travellers

Diputación de Málaga
Mirador de los viajeros románticos3

Natural Viewpoint of the Romantic Travellers

The views from this viewpoint of the lookout to the Sierras as the Blanquilla , Juan Diego , or Oreganal are impressive, and all thanks to the situation in height.

This viewpoint was the destination for romantic travelers, who undertook the way of the Grand Tour in search of authenticity, among which are to W. Irving , Edmond Boissier or Lady Tenison . A monument in Ronda extols some of his phrases.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, many countries from the North of Europe went through the process of industrialisation. This process provoked the destruction of many natural spots and rendered the contemporary men a rootless being due to the constant population movements from the countryside to the cities.

The loss of that natural paradise made young upper-class people to undertake an unprecedented travel, the so-called Grand Tour. They were on the search of the roots of civilization and continued with this ritual until well into the 20th century.
The archaeological remains – the ruins – from Greece and Italy, the incredible landscapes of the European mountains or the picturesque Spain were the preferred destinations for this Tour.
Far away from the Age of Enlightenment and the dominance of the reason, sensations provided by the reality were the main attractive element.

In descriptions, adjectives such as sublime, great, lavish, spectacular, etc. were highly used. Artists and writers used these terms to describe their idealized landscapes. These romantic travellers made the rich Europe from the North to look at the South countries and see the landscapes that we can enjoy here, which are a piece of the lost paradise. Their works – novels, poetry, guide books, and illustrations – contributed to the creation of clichés that are even still alive today; clichés centred on bullfighters, majas* and romantic bandits. They also taught us to appreciate our heritage and traditions. Thanks to their impassioned testimony, hundreds of tourists came to our cities, then they were thousands and nowadays millions. Let us use this text as a humble honour to those fi rst tourists.

There are many names of romantic travellers that have contributed to make from Andalusia and Ronda one of the preferred tourists’ destinations for many Europeans. In England, Germany or France, we can highlight some works that have definitely influenced on tourists as “Tales of the Alhambra” written by Washington Irving (1832), “A Handbook for travellers in Spain” by Richard Ford (1844) or “ The Bible in Spain” by George Borrow (1843), which inspired works as Carmen by Merimée lately adapted to the opera by Bizet.

In the 20th century, universal well-known people fascinated by the art of bullfighting as Ernest Hemingway and Orson Wells have certainly ended up creating the image of an unchangeable and romantic Ronda.

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