Casa del Rey Moro, the Mine and the Forestier gardens

What it is

On the cuesta de Santo Domingo, 9, a monumental complex that brings together three parts. The Water Mine, of Nasrid date, from the 14th century, one of the best preserved in Spain. The House, in neo-Mudéjar style, which the Duchess of Parcent, Trinidad von Scholtz Hermensdorff, bought in 1911 and transformed from an 18th-century mansion. And the Garden, which the duchess commissioned in 1912 from the French landscape designer Jean Claude Nicolas Forestier, his first recognised work in Spain. Today the Mine and the Garden can be visited; the House is under renovation and cannot be entered.

The Mine

It was built to reinforce Ronda's defence by taking advantage of a natural crack hidden in the wall of the Tajo. A gallery was dug down to the river to draw water with a large waterwheel, and the lower part was fortified so that this could be done safely in time of siege. The visit goes down that gallery to the bed of the Guadalevín, about 60 metres deep, and ends below, next to the water, in a natural spot between the walls of the gorge.

The Garden

Forestier mixed the Hispano-Muslim garden with the geometry of the French garden and adapted it to a narrow, sloping site, resolved in three terraces with viewpoints over the Tajo and the mountains. It is a Bien de Interés Cultural. Walk through it before going down into the Mine or on the way up, to rest.

Hours and admission

It opens every day: from 10:00 to 20:00 from October to April and from 10:00 to 21:30 from May to September. Tickets are sold only at the ticket office; the website does not publish the price. It also offers guided visits for groups, a night visit and events in the garden and in the rooms of the Mine: ask the house.

Before you go down

The Mine goes down to the bottom of the gorge by uneven, damp, dimly lit steps, and then you have to climb them all. It is not for pushchairs or for anyone with mobility problems. Teenagers usually like it most in Ronda. Allow an hour between garden and mine, a little more if you linger below.

Nearby

The house is on the way down from La Ciudad to the Puente Viejo. Combine it with the Palacio de Mondragón and the Arab Baths, which are on the same side of the river, or climb afterwards to the Puente Nuevo.