Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-11
THE SOUTH OF SPAIN
Most Interesting Part Of the
Country.
ADVICE TO TOURISTS
SHOULD LEAVE THE STEAMER
AT GIBRALTAR.
Quaint Old Town of Algeciras, Just
Across the Bay-The Land
Of the Bandits.
BY WILLIAM f. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special CORRESPONDENCE of The Evening Star and
Chicago Record Herald.
ALGECIRAS, Spain, December 1, 1903.
For those who have only short time to
spend in Spain the best plan is to enter the
country from Gibraltar and thus save
long and tiresome railway journey. The
most interesting cities are south of Madrid.
People who have plenty of time and are
willing to put up with slight inconvenience
and few discomforts should come by way
of Paris and stop at as many towns as pos
sible, for they will find a great variety of
things and people in each to interest them
The greater number of travellers, however.
allow only two or three weeks for Spain,
and they should be spent at Seville, Ora
NADIA, Cordova, Toledo and Madrid. with
out trying to see too much. All of those
cities can be reached more easily from Glib
raltar than from the north. There is a
steamer from London nearly every day,
and from the United States to Glib as
the English call their big fortress, every
week.
The voyage from New York to Gibraltar
Is about twelve days, and the southern
route is taken the weather is usually very
mild even in the midst of winter You will
ma the hotels of southern Spain little
cold during the winter months. Every
thlng Is cold when one goes out of the sun
shine, but you can get along very COM
fortably.
Old Spanish Town of Algeciras.
1t is not we'll to stop at Gibraltar, how
ever, for the hotels there are miserable, but
across the bay at the old Spanish town OF
Algeciras young paradise has Just been
started. With new hotel containing all
the modern improvements, owned and kept
by English people. the traveller will find
most comfortable quarters and a delight
full climate. The hotel is named Reina
Crist1na in honor of the Queen of Spain.
and she ought to be proud of it. 1t is be-
coming quite winter resort for English
people, and the landlady told me that she
had good many Americans last year-the
f1rst season 1T has been opened. little
steamboat runs across the bay to Gibraltar
two or three times day. and the families
OF the officers of the garrison come here for
a change.
Algecras Is not much of itself 1t is an
old-fashioned, sleepy. typical Spanish city,
tho headquarters Of the cork trade, and on
the railway tracks you will see long trains
loaded with big sheets Of cork brought from
the forests of the mountains for shipment
to England. America and the German ports
Several steamers are in the bay receiving
cargoes. good many fish are shipped
from here also. and formerly Algeciras was
profitable place for smugglers but the
carbineros. that fine corps of police which l
wrote you about the other day, have pretty
effectually suppressed cOiltraband trade l
am told that there Is no more underground
commerce. 70"
Has Seen Much History.
This has taken the spirit out of the old
town. which is not as lively as 1t used to be
800 years ago. when 1t was one of the
principal ports of the Phoenicians 1t has
seen a great deal of history: 1t has been
held by half dozen different nations and
races at one time another; the kings Of
Spain were once styled Reyes del Alge-
ciras." but today 1t Is silent, except for The
jabbering Of the fishermen on the beach
and the old huckster women In the market
place. The streets are dirty. and the houses
which once sheltered naughty Moors and
proud hfdalgos are now half empty. There
is a small theater a military barracks and
a church, which must have q sensible priest,
because he has painted over the door in
large letters the following inscription,
which might well be conspcuously posted
upon every sanctuary:
La Carload Y ell Quito Cristino
TIE Haram dichoso Infeliz de ii
81 no 10 Practicas."
which, being roughly translated. means
that there is no use in processing the faith
Of a Christian unless you practice it.
A Picturesque Country.
The journey to Alegciras from Granada
or Seville Is one of the most picturesque
and beautiful in Spain. and will remind
you Of the railway lines of Colorado and
New Mexico. The train runs through
succession Of narrow gorges alternating
with wide valleys. upon which large herds
of cattle, sheep and goats are feeding. I'M
mense areas covered with olive groves are
protected by hedges of cactus like those
you see in Mexico. Here and there is
little village clinging to the mountain side.
and most of them have remained unchang-
&c for hundreds of years. Everything re-
ants have chung to their ancient customs
and dress. The landscape painter will find
in this strip Of country the grandest and
widest scenery in Spain, while the figure
villages On the tops of the mountains are
monstrous converts and monasteries.
The Region of Bandits.
Not very long ago this was the field Of
the exploits of Jose Maria the most cele-
hrated bandit in Spain.
Ronda a town of about IS 900 inha bitants
and one of the most romantic places that
you can imagine. for hundreds Of years has
been the headquarters of the "bandidos" as
the smugglers and bandits are called. 1t
Is situated upon the summit of very high
rock which was cleft in twain by volcanic
action ages ago. The town occupies both
sides of the chasm or "tajo," as the Span
iards call it, in a most peculiar way. The
River Guadiaro runs through this chasm,
boiling with passion and splashing it's foam
upon the perpendicular walls which rise
276 feet to the town above. The chasm is
crossed by two bridges. one of which, built
in 1851 consists Of a single arch 40 feet in
diameter. From thettop of the bridge the
view Of the wild cascade below and the
country around is unsurpassed.
The rock upon which Ronda is situated is
reached from the valley below by a stair
Of etc he
granite in 1912 by Christian slaves held as
prisoners by All Abu Melee. the Moorish
governor The bull fighting and horse train
ing trading are the cfiiefoccupations of the
popula ton and the bull fights of Ronda are
said to be the fiercest and most exciting in
Spain. The women arsf said to be the
prettiest also, but from appearances the
male part Of the pSpulation are bandidos
old fashioned costume of the mountaineers,
which we associate Ntthhbandits, and could