This city is always eclipsed, in the shadow of titans like Madrid, Barcelona or even Seville. But it deserves to be discovered, because it has a historical heritage and an exceptional natural landscape. However, only savvy travelers give it a chance. Those who do it say that it reminds them a lot of another city in Greece.
Hanging Houses of Cuenca
Getting away from mass tourism is still possible in Spain. To do so we go to Cuenca, with its impressive old town and its iconic houses hanging over the Huécar River, which many compare to the Meteora monasteries in Greece.
The latter are Orthodox temples that rise majestically on rocks, defying gravity in the same way as Cuenca houses. They seem to float in the void like hanging houses and were built between the 14th and 16th centuries with an almost inconceivable location, to be spiritual and defensive refuges.
Monasteries of Meteora, Greece.
But this example of 12th and 15th century architectural ingenuity comparable to the Greek is not the only thing worth visiting in Cuenca. Its Cathedral of Santa María and San Julián is one of the most impressive temples in Spain, with its Gothic façade and its 20 interior chapels.
Cathedral of Saint Mary and Saint Julian
It is also worth discovering the Plaza Mayor full of colorful buildings, with the baroque-style Town Hall and its entrance with three arches. However, the best way to discover Cuenca is to walk its narrow streets, get lost in the historic neighborhood of Santa Catalina and go up and down stairs without stopping.
Plaza Mayor of Cuenca
Sometimes we look with envy at neighboring countries and the saying that “the neighbor's grass is always greener” resonates. With Cuenca and Greece for the same as with Mérida and Rome, it is a good reminder that within our borders we have gems unknown to foreigners that do not have to envy other international tourist attractions.
In Xataka | In 1986, miners left two 150-meter pyramids of garbage in northern France. 40 years later, the sun turned them into something that no one had predicted
In Xataka | 25,000 bags of concrete placed blindly under 6 meters of water: for five years, a single diver prevented a 170-meter cathedral from collapsing
