Day 70: Cuenca, Spain

We successfully picked up our rental car from Atocha Station this morning but the real trick was getting through the city to our apartment to pick up the luggage (which we hadn't felt like carrying all the way to Atocha) because, today of all days, there was some sort of massive march/protest along the one street that we needed. Luckily Frank's a natural at city driving and I am adept at yelling out street names as I find them and finding them on our sub-par Frommer's map, so we eventually made it back to our belongings and set out on our way to our first road trip destination: Cuenca.

The drive took about 2 hours and brought us into a new "autonomous region" called Castilla-La Mancha and the province of Cuenca, of which Cuenca (the city) is - not surprisingly - the capital. Here are a few shots of the countryside we passed through on the way, including my "Array of Windmills" photo which cleverly juxtaposes the ancient and the modern by showing an old stone windmill with modern windmills in the background. [OK, so the photo was of the old windmill and I just noticed the modern ones now...]






We finally arrived in Cuenca and found our hotel without too much effort. We are staying in a Parador - a government-owned hotel usually in a converted something - in this case a monastery. Here is the view from the window of our hotel room:




The hotel has an interior courtyard with hallways running on each side of it - this is one of them just to give an idea of the style of the building. When it was restored as a hotel, they tried to retain as much of the history as possible; therefore, the refectory is now the dining room and still has a beautiful wooden ceiling (not pictured).




Just outside the Parador is one of the bridges that spans the Huecar ravine (over the Heucar river) to connect to the old town part of Cuenca. After a few hours of relaxing by the pool in the beautiful 85 degree weather, we walked across the bridge into town to do some exploring.




Here is what Cuenca is famous for: the hanging houses ("casas colgadas") which are built right on the edge of the cliff hanging over into the gorge below. This is what makes Cuenca such a dramatic and beautiful spot.




This is the view from near the Casas Colgadas back towards the bridge and the Parador.




Once in town, we wandered all through the Ciudad Antigua (old part of the city) and soon found the Plaza Mayor and the beautiful cathedral that faces onto it.




On the other end of the Plaza Mayor are the Baroque arches of the ayuntamiento (town hall) which have numerous outdoor cafes beneath them. We took a break and sat in one for a quick cana (small draft beer) and a snack of Morteruelo - a local speciality made of various meats served hot with bread.




After a short rest, we continued our journey around the Ciudad Antigua, which involved exploring many small windy streets surrounded by lots of old stone buildings. Here is a photo taken along our route:




We made our way up to the ruins of the old castle and to the "mirador" (viewing point) which gave us a view back towards the entire Ciudad Antigua.




Here is a shot of our Parador and the bridge we crossed to get into the old town.




This is a small section of my favorite house in Cuenca, with a beautiful balcony terrace, an amazing arbor and beautiful flowers at the entry way.




After some strenous walking around hilly Cuenca, we stopped back in the Plaza Mayor for another canita and other small tapa snack (this time some queso manchego). By the time we made our way back to the Parador, the sun was finally starting to set and this was the view from the hotel back towards the bridge and the town.




Here is the interior courtyard of the Parador at night:




We were very happy with our afternoon of relaxation and exploring and are glad this was our first stop. This is going to be a whirlwind roadtrip but I am thrilled to be discovering new favorite places in my already favorite country!


PS - For those who were interested, here is a link explaining more about the El Greco paining "The Burial of the Count of Orgaz".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burial_of_the_Count_of_Orgaz

My favorite part was that they searched for the actual burial place of the guy and eventually found it - right under the painting.


ILM