Cuenca is a city (2004 pop. 47,862) in the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha in central Spain. It is the capital of the province of Cuenca.
A beautiful and ancient city, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is famous for its casas colgadas (hanging houses) on the edge of the gorge of the river Huécar. While its collection of historical buildings is not as impressive as Toledo or Salamanca, it offers a unique mixture of nature and human constructions. Its landscapes are particularly wonderful in autumn, due to the mix of green, yellow and red colours in the gorges of the two rivers. Cuenca, and the hanging houses, were featured in C. J. Sansom's 2006 novel, Winter in Madrid.
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Cuenca places
Other areas
Albacete
Ciudad Real
Cuenca
Guadalajara
Toledo
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Cuenca turismo
The city’s most stunning characteristic is its beauty that recalls on the one hand, the harmony between nature and architecture, and on the other hand, its long history that has left us with a significant cultural and monumental legacy.
In reality, Cuenca is two cities. One is the high quarter, or monumental Cuenca. The other, the low quarter, is the modern area that sprung up starting in the 19th century. The monumental area is a medieval city. For reasons of defense, it is located high up on a long, rugged promontory, between two rivers. The layout of the streets corresponds to the difficulties of the surroundings.
The arrangement reflects a city with no formal design that has adapted perfectly to the characteristics of its environment. Streets are found along two axes: one is longitudinal, forming a “linear spine” that starts in the low quarter at Puente de la Trinidad (Trinidad Bridge) (the ancient Door of Huete) and continues up along Calle Alfonso VIII and Calle San Pedro (Alfonso VIII, San Pedro Streets), ending in the Barrio del Castillo (Castle quarter). The other axis is transversal, uniting the Puerta de Valencia (Door of Valencia) with that of San Juan.
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