Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Cuenca to Toledo

Our waiter from the night before sitting outside having a meal next to the Cuenca Cathedral.  He was dressed in period clothing and loved to play up to the camera!

We got up early and went out walking.  Best time to walk out of the heat of the day.  Cuenca is also all up hill, both inclines and steps.  Both Nikki and I can still feel our calves from all the climbing! This is the door from an ancient church just round the corner from our apartment. 


Houses are all painted in bright colours.


And here is our bright blue bus that we were driving in.  The number place was 925 JNK - so I was calling it 925 pieces of junk to remember it.  It worked!


The beauty of getting up early is not only is the light beautiful and it's cool, but there is an absence of tourists who are all sleeping in! The spanish seem to get up late and stay up late.


 Houses dot the hillside down below the old town of Cuenca.


Back up on Plaza Mayor at the top, there was no one there apart from the street cleaners who were hosing down the streets making it pristine from the night before.


The Cathedral...

We decided to head up to the top above the cathedral, we didn't the afternoon before as it was too hot.  We found some incredibly scenery, old buildings, and lovely old alleyways...



Cuenca is known as the hanging houses of Spain and you can see them literally built in and hanging from the cliffs here...


And all along the cliff....  To think we walked all along that several times, up and down!





Some of the old houses...




I had hoped to find the old bridge in which to take the following photos, and I did - finally, at the very last minute.  The light could not have been better.  It gives a perfect example how the houses are incorporated into the cliff face. Earthquake proof they are not!




Beauty and the Beast...

The house doors are really little.  The number was a mistake - Truely!


We then drove to Toledo in the heat of the day in our nice air conditioned car.  We passed lots of olive groves...



After finding our apartment in toledo we went out walking.  It was 37C and just too hot to walk for long.





Found the edge of the walled town and looked over a river with the remains of an old roman bridge...


Headed to the monastery - lots of carvings - incredible building..  Only 2.50E to get in 
Inside the Cloisters...



Nikki giving it a bit of perspective in terms of size...



The inside of the church was beautiful...




It was easier to photograph the sign as to what the building was than was for me to try and remember...



The Cathedral of Toledo


And the door to our apartment on the right...

I was pleased to get out of the heat of the day and spend the evening working on photos.  Steven disapeared for several hours exploring the town as he was leaving at 5.00am in the morning to head back to the USA.

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