If you aren't a fan of my "oops, all photos" approach to this thing, then A) what are you doing here still? and B) strap in! Lee and I took quite a trip and, as is my want, I took too many photos. We arrived, jet lagged and groggy, on a sunny afternoon in Madrid, Spain. From there taxi--train--taxi to the beautiful cliff top town of Cuenca.
First order of business: Explore our fantastic hotel and cool off in the swimming pool.
We stayed in a Parador, which is a state sponsored hotel chain. Starting in 1928, historic buildings that were at risk of falling into disuse and disrepair were bought and converted into luxury hotels.
The Parador in Cuenca is a former monastery, complete with intact cloister, and a few religious art pieces. The rooms are elegant, lovely--and air-conditioned--and the location and views are impossible to beat!
Every Parador also has a classy restaurant that serves traditional dishes from their respective regions. For our first meal in Spain, we has dinner at the Parador. The tables were all set up al fresco in the cloister, complete with live music. One of the more unique dishes we tried was, as far as I could tell, just straight up garlic? With a tasty aioli, but really just a pile of garlic. It was delicious!
We couldn't get over how few bugs there were to bother us. I'm used to being harassed by mosquitos and flies when eating outside, I saw nary a one. Once the sun went down we had to take a few minutes to appreciate the beautifully lit Cuenca skyline and get a bit of a closer look at the famous hanging houses.
The Parador is on one side of a gorge, the city on the other and the two are connected by a footbridge. That is the sole connection that allowed centuries of monks--and now tourist crowds--to cross the gorge from the monastery to the city.
This particular footbridge was built in 1903 to "temporarily" replace the stone bridge that collapsed, proving that nothing is so permanent as a temporary solution.
The remarkable hanging houses (Casas Colgadas) were built, well, we don't really know when! They are already on records and present in the 15th century and there used to be more like them, but we don't really know for sure how old they are. The city built up on a rocky hilltop needed every inch of space for it's growing population, so they built homes right on the cliff edge.
Cuenca is lovely at night, but we were severely tired. After snapping a few photos, we conked out. We woke up far too bright and none too early to head into Cuenca and explore. First stop: the Cathedral!
This is one of Spain's first gothic churches. I am somewhat (read: extremely) enamored of gothic architecture and stained glass. This church had some fantastic windows, including very modern ones.
Even if the church was initially completed in 1257, these places are never stagnant. People keep changing, adding, and using the church, so there are elements from so many different time periods.
An example--besides the very 20th century windows--is the quite Baroque dome above the main altar.
I think visiting Cuenca is all about the vistas, each more lovely than the last. From the Parador you get a terrrrific view of old town, so it follows that from old town you get a great view of the Parador!
There is a small museum of church art treasures near the cathedral, and in their vault--yes, a literal vault--they've two El Grecos and many golden thingamajigs.
Aside from the literal treasures, the building itself (an old manor house) was kinda cool and did have room with lovely tapestries and a big ole book of ancient sheet music!
Cuenca's cathedral no longer has a bell tower (It collapsed after being struck by lighting in 1902), but it ain't the only church in town! The church of San Pedro is just up the hill. That church has a bell tower that is climbable! Challenge accepted.
Another unique view of Cuenca!
We walked further up the hill to the edge of the medieval city so we could climb onto the ruins of the old city wall. Between the topography and the walls, Cuenca was imminently defensible. It was besieged at least twice--in both 1107 and 1706.
The top of the walls gives us yet another remarkable view of Cuenca!
Near the walls is the old convent of the Carmelites; it is now a modern art gallery. Cuenca is kind of a surprising home to a lot of modern art, there's more than one excellent gallery. But also the building itself is quite interesting, being an old convent and all.
We could also hear quite a to do inside (we could hear it from multiple places in town, actually, canyon echoes being what they are) there was a rehearsal for an opera in the little chapel. We sat and listened to the rehearsal for a while after we'd finished seeing all the art.
After a break for lunch (Spanish cuisine seems to have a lot more aioli/mayo than I'm accustomed to) we decided to do walk back to the Parador by way of the trail that runs below Cuenca along the ridge. The park at the top of the hill has perhaps my favorite view of all:
Along the trail was what seemed to be the ruins of an old fortification. It would be a perfect place for lookouts to watch for danger!
It was very hot, I just have to say, so very hot. A very sunny, very dry heat. I was definitely feeling the jet lag, not fully adjusted.
When we made it back to the Parador, I needed a little siesta break. I didn't get a little siesta break, I slept for fully three hours. That was way too much. It was really hard to shake myself into being alert again.
We went for a bit of a walk around some different parts of the old town. It very much made me think if Edinburgh with all the little tunnels and side streets, the medieval "sky scrapers", just a hot Mediterranean, version.
We popped into one more art gallery for the evening, they had some temporary exhibits of Japanese paintings and pottery from Paraguay.
We finished our walk in what was formerly the Jewish quarter of Cuenca, it was largely burned in a pogrom in 1391. Some of the ruins from before the pogrom have been set aside as kind of archeological sites, including those immediately surrounding the clock tower.
For dinner, we walked down the hill into the gorge to a restaurant built into a cave on the side of the cliff. It was a fun vibes kind of place, very kind friendly, and further cemented to me that I should stop ordering salads. Nothing in Spain is a salad. Sometimes they say it's a salad, but it's actually a pile of hummus.
We took a moment to walk underneath our favorite rickety bridge. Let me be clear: the bridge is sturdy and not going to collapse or anything, but some of the wooden planks are warped and they move slightly when stepped on, which is terrifying at that height. Also the railings: no where near tall enough for my comfort, they were not quite up to my waist. Taking small children on that bridge would make me very stressed, I'm glad I had none with me.
The next morning was our last in Cuenca. We made an effort to get up early so we could do a little hike before it got too hot.
Just following up the road passed the Parador we got on a trail that leads up the hill to visit the Mirador del Cerro del Socorro.
One more incredible view of Cuenca, this time from the highest peak in the area! We were trying to avoid the heat, but it was impossible. It was much hotter in the afternoon, but it was already pretty darn warm for hiking.
It was a pretty cool little mountain to have conquered.
Our last stop in Cuenca was an absolute highlight: going inside one of the hanging houses! One of them is a restaurant, but the other is an art museum--a FREE art museum--making it the best thing to do in Cuenca.
And this is what it looks like to be inside one of these dizzying houses:
And I found a new favorite artist: Antonio Saura. His paintings really jumped out at me, this one I liked especially:
Cuenca homeboy Fernando Zobel's art was prominently featured. They train station is actually named after him:
I also loved all the historic elements of the building that were preserved: stonework, old murals, and one fantastic ceiling.
Alas, it was now time to check out of our hotel and leave Cuenca! On our way out of town to the train station, we took a moment to photograph some of the sunflowers. There were so many fields covered in sunflowers everywhere, just thousands and thousands of them. We had to capture just a few.
Off we go to the next new city!
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