Bet you can’t say Cuenca?

Cuenca (pronounced kwen-ka) is like very few places we’ve visited in the world. It is a medieval city founded by Muslims in the 8th century. To protect the city, they built a castle at the highest point in the land. Only one wall from the original castle still stands today and it serves as the official entry to the Old City.

It’s official - I am royalty 👸 - Christians came in the 12th century when King Alphonso VIII conquered the city (Stacy’s father’s name was Alphonso). And since I know Ada and Yvette are reading this blog, don’t worry - I’m excited to share our new royalty status.

Now we just have to remember to be dainty so we don’t drop our tiaras.

The most famous feature of Cuenca are the hanging houses. The houses are literally built into the limestone and their wooden balconies hang over the cliff. The origin is unclear but at least back to the 15th century. And they were necessary because at its peak, all of the inhabitants of Cuenca lived in this section of the city and space was limited. There were 8 in total but only 3 remain today and they are now a Modern Art museum.

We got the best view from the San Pablo Bridge. It crosses the Huécar River and was originally built in the 16th century (eventually demolished). The one we crossed today was built in 1903!

Most restaurants start in private homes. We walked past one that had a Michelin rating (fancy). So we were excited for our 2pm lunch meal (typical Spanish lunchtime). And I got to eat Zarajo!

The food was coming as soon as sat down at our tables in this beautiful setting. We had salad, codfish dip, mixed meat stew, and Zarajo (lamb chitterlings). All served family style and those were just the appetizers.

Main course for us was two different kinds of fish (which were cooked perfectly) but many of the friends got roasted lamb which seemed to be their specialty. Some kind of chocolate mousse cake for dessert and free flowing red wine throughout - why can’t every day be like this one?

More pictures of Cuenca