on a church balcony in Ronda

On the balcony of the Church of Santa María la Mayor (Iglesia de Santa María de la Encarnación la Mayor) in Ronda's Town Hall square, the Plaza Duquesa de Parcent. Its distinctive tower and front facade make the church look more like a city hall than a church. It has an interesting history, well reflecting Spain's history. Before the Reconquista, it had been a muslim Mosque. This explains the balconies, which would be unusual in a Christian church. But the Medina Mosque itself had also been constructed on top of an older Christian church dating from Visigothic times, however it is also known that this was built on top of an even older Roman altar, possibly a temple to Diana, which was built to honour the victory of Julius Caesar over the forces of Pompeii, Cneo, and Sexto in the battle of Munda (the Roman name for Ronda) in 45BC (i.e. Caesar had been here). Where we are posing here, the balconies at the front of Santa María la Mayor were added later during the reign of Felipe II (Philip II) for nobility and gentry of the city to watch maestranza (military nobility) tournements, bullfights and other events being held in the square, but these days the square is a lovely park named in honour of the Duchess of Parcent. Within the church is a fresco of Christopher Columbus painted by one of Ronda’s celebrated painters, Jose de Ramos. We saw it, and had a good lookaround inside the church. Next to this church there was a pleasant eaterie where Thelma had the "best ever olives" she had ever tried, as she put it. Actually, she said that it was here in Ronda that she had olives that she really did like (otherwise she wasn't keen on olives). The second picture from here (2 clicks away on "Next picture") shows this church from the square.