Spain and Beyond

Daily Drena: Something around every corner.

Today we walked all around the old part of Cuenca, and this town goes to to the top of my list of favorite places in Spain. (I know, they pretty much all do, but this one goes really high.) It’s a very charming area and full of wonderful textures and old architecture. We read that not many locals actually live in the old part of town, but we didn’t get much of a big tourist vibe (unlike Barcelona) and saw plenty of locals. We hiked up and over a suspending bridge and viewed the famous hanging houses that literally have their balconies hanging over the cliff. We then continued hiking higher up to a viewpoint that cheaters can drive to also. We popped into a couple local artisan shops and had a picnic lunch overlooking the river. It was a beautiful sunny day, almost caliente, and the flowers and trees are blooming. We ended the tour by reading on a park bench with the sounds of the flowing river water surrounding us before heading back to work. Of so many places to wind down our travels with, this was a good one to choose. The large valley on the edge of town reminds us of Ronda’s gorge, and although Ronda was definitely more spectacular, Cuenca is beautiful in its own right. We’re glad we left Barcelona a day early to give Cuenca proper time to explore.