A few weeks ago, a couple of fellow Americans and I felt the need to escape the craziness of city life, and took a day trip to Cuenca, an historical village not too far from Madrid. Cuenca is in Castilla y La Mancha, and is one of the more historical cities in Spain, with foundations dating back to the Romans. It's famous for the "casas colgadas," or "hanging houses," built along the cliffs. Always gives an advantage to built your city on a mountain top with cliffs!! Currently, Cuenca is home to a number of museums, including an amazing Modern Art museum, a couple of incredible monasteries, and some great tapas bars (though we didn't "aprovechar" any of the tapas).
Anyway, we went for a day of shameless sight seeing. I didn't read any history of the place, and I apologize. But it was beautiful! And it was a relaxing day. Sometimes I feel so over-saturated with new information, that I can't manage to pick up another history book!
I'll get right down to it... here are the famous Casas Colgadas, the first view waling into the town's historical center.
Monastery (Or convent):
...and from a different angle!
We found an old fortified wall, and climbed it...
...took in the view...
...and took a break from all the climbing...
Sam taking it easy, but looking way cooler than me...
The hills look like they have Zapatista eyes...no?
Moving on!
Loved this juxtaposition.
Central Plaza
Central Church in Central Plaza (Norman/ early Gothic architecture. Think so... I can't ever quite remember...)
More central plaza. It was the only place in town with colorful buildings.
Yea. Translation for the "USA ME" shirt. "Usa" in Spanish comes from the verb "usar," meaning to use. So it's a command of sorts....
...Itty bitty door...
Oh! And we found out that Cuenca is a stop on one of the many caminos de Santiago! I had no idea until we saw this lovely St. James icon and the shell.
Where's this go?
Best...garage...ever.
Just wanted to include the invredible Quartz crystals growing in these people's garage...
Naturally we had to climb this.
And slowly night descended.
No joke, this house exists.
Hope you enjoyed the photos! I sure enjoyed taking them! I know this entry was slightly rushed, but I've been insanely busy here, as there is much, much more to do in Madrid than Ferrol!! I'll be getting some Christmas pictures up tomorrow hopefully, so you can all see how dressed up the city has been lately!
Ciao!
