Travel Log Page 2

Page 2 <Previous \| Next Page>
	Cuenca
	Our first mistake of this trip was only booking Cuenca for one night. What a beautiful Medieval City! It started with a Moorish Castle being built in the late 9th century and early 10th century. This location was chosen as there was only one entrance due to the two large gorges on either side. The city was built originally in 1120 AD high up on the cliffs of the gorges. The buildings go right to the edge of the cliffs, and some hang over the cliffs. The streets are very narrow. So narrow that our cab driver stopped in the middle of the street and pointed down a narrow alley to our hotel.
The building on the left with some yellow on it is our hotel. The yellow in the picture is the bottom of our balcony to the side. The front balcony is small.	Our hotel is called Posada San Jose and our room is outrageously nice, especially for 70€ per day. I highly recommend this hotel to anybody coming to Cuenca, and please book it for at least two nights. If you want to sleep with the angels, ask for room 33. It is in the upper right hand corner of the building and has two balconies facing different directions. Both have the most spectacular view of the gorges. The room is very old world; tile slanted floors, shutter doors, no TV or phone, but, just wonderful. It is probably the cleanest hotel room I have ever been in. This building was built in 1661 AD and the doors are only five and a half feet tall. Jim had to duck a lot.
	Next door is the Gothic style Cuenca Cathedral dedicated in 1177 AD and finished the first time around 1330 AD. In 1480 an addition was started. This Cathedral is huge, not as large as St. Peter's, but large. The ceilings are magnificent in some places, other places the restoration has not begun or is half done. There is a museum on premise which cost a whopping $1.50 to see. Most visitors are not even aware that it is there as it is not marked and it looks like, at first glance, that you are walking into an office. It has very old and beautiful song books, jewels of the past Bishops and art work. Plus one of the most unusual ceilings I have ever seen. Lots of nooks in it and a beautiful green and white color scheme. The stained glass windows were all redone in the 1990's and they are amazing abstracts. There are no videos or photos allowed and the local shops do not seem to have a selection of views from inside. What a shame as I am sure they would sell very well.
	There are a lot of artists in town. Abstract art is very big, as is pottery. Again, dinner is very late as the sun did not set until 10 pm, so most people do dinner or tapas (appetizers) between 10 pm and 1 am. A little late for me, so far, maybe I will get the hang of eating so late soon.

	Next we are off to Castelldefels, which is 20 miles south of Barcelona.
<Previous \| Next Page>