Cuenca Archives • Folksy Travel by Bill Smale

late last year I went to Madrid to see my friends who you can see below. I spent some time there in Spain before going to Germany to see the Rod Stewart concert. I wish I was able to spend more time in Spain since I was just getting back up to speed with Spanish.

Madrid

visiting friends who are professional musicians and also play for the national Orchestra of Spain.

Venezuela musicians Madrid Segovia Cuenca — Venezuelans playing tunes they remember and created

Sergio and Omar playing Madrid Segovia Cuenca — Sergio and Omar playing

Cured ham Madrid Segovia Cuenca — So many places sell cured ham by the leg

Beautiful lake Bill Smale — Proof I was there at the beautiful lake in the center of the city

Nice time of year Bill Smale — It was a nice time of year

Street musician Bill Smale — And of course there was a very good Street musician

Gremlin fountain — The interesting fountain with figurines that look like gremlins

JardineS park — This is the large park in the center of Madrid

Green birds — The beautiful green birds gathered together

Beautiful day — It was a very beautiful day and seeing the birds was a real treat

I just took a few pictures of the colors because they were so striking. This was in October

Park explanation — The explanation of the park

Took took — They have duk duk also in Spain

the above was a menu for some things which I ordered

Tapas — These were just little things to fill up on

Pamplona

Reference to Hemmingway — In the city Hemmingway is very famous

Segovia

Small chapel altar — The altar in the small chapel

Ornate object objects — Very ordinate objects

Palace entrance — The palace at the entrance

Protection for a knight — Very good protection for a knight and his horse

Ornate ceiling — Incredibly ornate ceiling

Beautiful views of the surrounding area. What do you see in the distance is the Mirador de la Vera Cruz

Palace courtyard — Looking down under the courtyard

Old garden walkway — Walking down to an old garden

Beautiful photo — I just thought this was a beautiful photo

To a cemetery — The Jewish cemetery is way on the other side of the road and the graves are inside caverns

Cuenca

Fortress town — This is an old fortress town which is a lot of fun to walk up and down

A tourist restaurant — This was a menu in one of the restaurants. I don’t recommend eating up there since it’s fairly expensive and it’s tourist food

Museum — This is the monastery and now a museum

The Lord of La Mancha — Maybe this will remind you of the Lord of La Mancha, Don Quijote

when you go to Spain make sure you go to Cuenca. It is a world heritage site for a reason. You go up by bus to the castle uphill or you can walk though it is quite a distance and could be tiring depending upon your degree of fitness. Walking back down to the town is a piece of cake and a very interesting stroll. There are also a few ways to go down through the narrow streets which you should probably try. By bus by train from Madrid it will take about an hour and a half so if you leave early in the morning you can spend the day there and then come back in the afternoon or evening but it’s a nice little town to stay overnight. I didn’t find a bunch else except for the journey up to the castle and the churches to visit up there. There are quite a few restaurants in coffee shops along the way but they seem to be mostly catering to the tourist crowd so they be judged as tourist restaurants. As you visit this area you will see a beautiful landscape and buildings right on cliff sides that will definitely be worth a few photos.

Bridgeview — Walking across the bridge to the museum

Looking at the town go to Cuenca — I thought the colors here looking down into the town were very interesting

Monastery go to Cuenca — The monastery in the middle of the valley which is now a museum

Different paths go to Cuenca — There are many different trails off the roadside that you can take to see the beautiful scenery from different points of view

Entranceway — The main gate and entranceway into the cathedral and Castle area

Narrow streets — Some of the road up there is very narrow so they have a traffic light to allow cars one way and then stop to wait for cars coming the opposite way

Short doorway — This door to the building must’ve been made a long time ago, for very short people

A large statue of Jesus — Monumento al Sagrado Corazón de Jesus

Canyon view — You can see how the water washed away the land to create a beautiful canyon

Old cathedral doors — These stores to the cathedral are very old

Cathedral entranceway — The entranceway to the cathedral

Vespa Shop serving alcohol — I just thought this was interesting that the Vespa service shop is offering an Aperol spritz for €5.9. This is the first motorcycle service shop I have seen that serves alcohol.

Cliffside buildings — Buildings on the cliffside

Horse steps — What I learned in Bologna, Italy was that these long steps were created for people on horseback

A nun — This nun is obviously giving directions to the kids

Tourist site — Even though it was cold there were quite a few tourists mailing around

Valley view — Just a nice view of the cliffs and the valley and the tall trees that look like bushes

Good soup — It was kind of like a Spanish version of the Chinese “egg drop soup”. The wine was very tasty and the bread was fresh.

Raw beef — The food looks good but the meat was raw on the inside and way too chewy to eatbut I had them cook it a second time. It’s probably best to eat down in the town in a place that is not so touristy

Restaurant façade — A nice old restaurant façade

And of course you have to be able to see a Ferrari

Follow the narrow path — It’s more interesting on the way down to follow the narrow paths rather than the main road

Interesting window — I just thought this window was a very interesting shape

Sushi restaurant — The name of the shop does not exactly make me feel comfortable with the food

My last photo with the backpack — Everything I own is in these bags and I am without a home. But recently I decided to get a small suitcase with wheels. There is a limit to carrying 14 kg every other day.

Category: Cuenca

Madrid Segovia Cuenca

Go to Cuenca

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