In between school and studying, I have been doing as much sightseeing as possible. I recently went to an observatory deck on the 8th floor of the Palacio de Comunicación near Plaza Cibeles. For 2 Euros you are can ride up to the 8th floor patio which has breathtaking views of Madrid.
Two weekends ago, I was able to travel outside of Madrid once again to Cuenca, a small town known for its architectural beauty. Cuenca is two hours by bus, south of Madrid, so I and 2 of my friends booked 8 am bus tickets. Of course we could have taken the AVE (RENFE Trains), which is only a 50 minute ride, but we are poor Uni students and the bus is significantly cheaper.
The day of our trip we sleepily boarded our 8 am bus. We arrived in Cuenca by 10am slightly confused because our surroundings were not quite what we expected. Not only was the city average looking, but there was not a single person on the street. Luckily, my friend had brought along her guide to Spain which included a map of Cuenca and a list of all of its historical marvels. On the map there was something called a mirador. Due to its name,(Mirar in Spanish is the verb to look); we wanted to start our day with a view of the city. We asked a local for directions and he told us to take the next bus to the last stop. As we rode the bus, we seemed to be moving away from everything. We shortly arrived at our destination, the end of the bus line, which turned out to be a huge glass building. We quickly asked the driver where the mirador was and he pointed to the building. Confused we asked, “Where is the observatory tower?”. The driver chuckled to himself and said “Oh that’s the other way, this is the mall called el Mirador.” So we decided to make the best of it and go into the mall but, with our luck it was closed. We all started laughing at our mistake and as we waited for the next bus, it started to rain….. What luck! We laughed and didnt let it ruin our day! Well, lesson learned: a little research goes a long way.
Finally, after waiting a few minutes, we boarded the correct bus to the Plaza Major, the historical area of Cuenca. Once we arrived in the Plaza, we immediately saw the beauty and architecture we had initially expected. The plaza mayor is relatively small in comparison to Madrid’s but is absolutely beautiful. The brightly painted houses and thin streets immediately reminded me of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
We started the day at Our Lady of Grace Cathedral. The Cathedral was constructed between 1182 and 1270 in Gothic-anglo-Norman Style. It is filled with small chapels that are each elaborately adorned.
After visiting the cathedral, we decided to check out Cuenca’s claim to fame, the Puente and Las Casas Colgadas. After navigating our way through the winding streets we came upon a small opening that led us to exactly what we were looking for, Las Casas Colgadas. This touristic sight refers to houses that are hanging off a cliff over the Huecar River Gorge. These houses are paired with el puente de San Paulo which crosses over the Huecar River. The original bridge was a suspension bridge but it fell down in the 20th century and was replaced with a bridge made of wood and steel. The view off this bridge reveals an amazing view of las Casas Colgadas as well as the rugged landscape of the quaint town.
Interestingly, different parts of the bridge are full of padlocks with names and dates written on them. My friend informed me that they were love padlock/love locks that “sweethearts” lock on bridges to symbolized their love for each other. This became a popular trend in Europe after the Italian book was turned into a movie called Tre metri sopra il cielo.
Since Cuenca is surrounded by mountains, we decided to do a little hiking. After hiking we, spent the remainder of the day walking around and exploring every nook and cranny of the town. Overall, Cuenca is a relatively quiet calm town and being there was so relaxing. I highly suggest visiting Cuenca especially if you love the outdoors!
Chao for now chicos!
