Approaching Ronda from the west, the city appears first as a white line of buildings set along a distant ridge. The road runs smoothly across the plain, then gains height with some sharp bends before delivering you into this ancient city.

I was hungry when I got to Ronda. We had been enjoying a leisurely day driving around the white hilltop villages on the border between the provinces of Malaga and Cadiz. Now it was time to find our way through the grid of streets to book a room and track down the source of the delicious cooking smells that wafted around every corner.

Ronda is a much-visited place because it has a famous bridge, still called the New Bridge although it was built two and a half centuries ago. Visitors need to eat, so there are plenty of restaurants and cafés to chose from. Families enjoyed the evening air in the Plaza del Socorro and the tables outside the cafés were filling up. We had nearly chosen seats with a view of the fountain, which features Daniel subduing two lions, when curiosity led us to follow the sudden exodus of people from the square.

We were soon at the famous New Bridge. One glance down into the Tajo gorge, which separates Old and New Ronda, set my head spinning as I watched a waterfall splashing on the rocks far below, between two sheer cliffs. A walkway led along the cliff-top. As it had a secure iron railing I overcame my vertigo and followed round, reaching a superb viewpoint looking across the valley of the River Guadalevin towards distant mountain ranges. The setting sun cast a golden halo over couples as they gazed together at the view. Photographers stood ready to capture the moment when the sun dipped below the horizon. Then as it vanished, everyone dispersed.

Now it really was time to eat. Some cafés already seemed to be ready to close, but a restaurant just off Plaza del Socorro smelt amazing and was packed with people enjoying meals and wine. There was a small table at the back that we slipped into gratefully. We studied the menu but when the waiter explained that today's specials were fresh-caught seafood, I couldn't resist the grilled shrimps. They arrived, twenty good-sized ones, full of the flavour of the sea with a hint of garlic and seasoning. I enjoyed each one, perfectly set off by a glass of sturdy red wine.

At the table next to us, a young Spanish couple enjoyed a meal together. Their baby daughter was not left with a baby-sitter. She sat on the table, solemnly arranging and re-arranging the salt, pepper and toothpicks, calm and self possessed. Accepted as part of the social evening, she behaved impeccably as her parents finished a leisurely coffee before tucking her into her pushchair for the homeward journey.

We had two ambitions for the next day. One was to explore the old part of the city, which lies the other side of the dramatic bridge. The other was to find a path that leads down the cliff, and gives a really good view of the bridge.

Read the full article in our October 2009 issue.