Hanging Houses and Funny Rocks

After spending a relaxing Friday afternoon and evening at home, I awoke Saturday to early morning sunshine, full of energy and ready to spend the day walking around the historical city center of Cuenca, in Castilla la Mancha (a province beside Madrid), and a park in the mountains with curiously shaped rock formations. It's the last group outing before Kristen and I head back to the US, the last weekend when we could possibly do it. Six of us, in two cars, made the 2 hour trip to Cuenca together, the girls in one car and the boys in another. Before heading on foot to the old city, we stocked up on food for lunch and parked the cars below the city. Slowly, we winded up into the old city on a hill, that long ago expanded by building even onto the rock cliffs on one side of the hill. The architecture here is different than in Madrid, and in the main square that faces the cathedral, the houses are all painted different muted colors: dusty pink, yellow, rusty orange, slate blue, gray. From the main square, we climbed to a lookout and then wound down the hill, hugging the shady side of the street, to find the famous hanging houses, houses build into the rock wall of the mountain, with balconies hanging over the ravine. Everyone was so hot, we almost didn't go see the houses after getting a little lost. That would have been really disappointing, but at the end Kristen asked a couple dressed as if for a wedding for directions, and we found them without any problems.

Our next stop that day was the Enchanted City (Ciudad Encantada) which isn't a city at all. Rather, it's a place in the mountains where the wind has eroded the rocks in such a way that they look like strange things. Maybe reminiscent of the picture rocks in Illinois or some rock formations out west. We ate lunch amongst the prickly plants and pine cones, played some games of UNO while trying to wait out the hottest part of the day (impossible!), and then walked through the park, awed by what we saw. God makes such wonderful things! I drank more hot water that day than ever, though not quite enough. We were probably all dehydrated, though still enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Before heading to our homes, we stopped to get a drink and a tapa in Alcala, and I'm sure that all of us arrived at home completely exhausted, but contented.