Cuenca – the town of the hanging cliff houses

Cuenca was our second experience of ‘gypsy camping’ as there really wasn’t anywhere, ie campsites, to stay for a 40 miles radius.  So, we bit the bullet and gave it a go after all we had a top of the range Sat Nav which was programmable with GPS coordinates, so no problem!?

Background info: I’d bought a brand new Sat Nav to take with us as last year with our basic Garmin we’d ended up in some very tight spaces as the sat nav thought we were a car and therefore could get through narrow lanes, over hump-backed bridges and very narrow tunnels, causing all kinds of stress both to us and the vehicle.  So, 245 quid found us the proud owners of an Aguri Motorhome Sat Nav, an all singing and dancing jobby.  Only on the way to Portsmouth we found that it wouldn’t charge up and it died on us, we were catching the ferry to Santander first thing the next morning so no chance of sending it back!  I emailed their contact address leaving a frantic message – really what could they do about it when we weren’t even in the country!  Anyway, the next afternoon (which was a Saturday) whilst we were lurching about on the ferry in the storm (see Ferry Excitement blog), I had a phone call from Patrick.   “Hello,” he guffawed in a very posh accent, “I’m Patrick and I’m the Sales Director for Aguri, I gather you have a problem with one of our units, that’s very unusual,” he gushed.  I explained that the unit wouldn’t charge up and that it couldn’t be the charger as I’d plugged it into my phone and that took the charge but the sat nav was absolutely dead.  He said to give him an address where we would be staying in Spain for at least 4 days and he’d post us a replacement.  After lots of twoing and froing it had eventually turned up in Cordoba (over 2 weeks later).

Anyway, Cuenca was the maiden voyage for the Aguri, she had a very metallic voice which talked to you veeryyy  ssslllooowwwllly almost hypnotically slow (and flipping annoying) but we reckoned we’d get used to it.  All went well over the mountains to Cuenca from Cordoba which were stunning, at one point it seemed like we were on top of the world and could see for miles and miles around, later we drove round an enormous reservoir as well as driving over the largest viaduct we’ve ever seen.

The journey took a few hours and once in Cuenca we were reliant on our Aguri, it all went well until the very last turning where we turned right prematurely, we didn’t know that at the time but once we’d found ourselves up this steep incline which narrowed down to the size that a Cinquecento would find difficult to manoeuvre in we knew we were in trouble and of course who was driving???  What was the reaction of all the Spanish men who saw I was driving??? The driver of the car who was at the front of the queue of people who were tooting behind him got out and ‘helped’ me manoeuvre.  At the same time my OH was also giving me helpful and encouraging directions, at one point he thought I was moving too quickly and tried to slow the moho down by holding onto the passenger door’s open window frame and pulling it with all his might.  I took note and braked. The look of relief on his face was a picture.

I’m not kidding but it was at least an 18 point turn, taking into account the moho is 8m (30ft) long and 2.5m (8ft) wide and that we were on a steep hill with cars on either side, I’m surprised that we managed to get out of there unscathed and with the moho in one piece and not one bump or scratch, obviously it was ALL down to the directions given by the Spanish guy with both arms flailing constantly and his continuous commentary in rapid Spanish.  I waved majestically at the other drivers in the queue I’d caused, as we sailed (impervious to the swearing and accompanying hand gestures) down the hill to the junction and then took the next right to find the car park (aka gypsy parking lot) we were aiming for. 

It was principally an underground car park but with a part above ground specifically for coaches and about 12 spaces all along the one side by the river, for motorhomes.  There was a loo at the top of the underground car park which was surprisingly very clean, and the cost was only €12 per night.  As we pulled in a skinny little bloke in a shiny brown suit whipped the ticket out of the barrier machine and waved us in guiding us to a parking space like he was bringing in a 747.  I tried to explain that we needed to reverse in as the overhang at the back is quite long compared to the front, but he insisted that I drove in cab first! When we got out our moho stuck out a good 5 ft more than anyone else.  By that time, I didn’t care. We booked in for 2 nights thinking we wouldn’t get to see everything as it was already 1pm. 

It was a great location.  We walked along the path which the skinny guy pointed out into what looked like a park, not knowing what to expect. Other people in front seemed to be taking photos of the sky, we looked up to see the underside of large wooden balconies literally just hanging off the cliff face.  It was so unreal.  As we climbed higher and higher, stopping to take photos of the emerging views (surreptitiously trying to get our breath back at the same time) we could just make out the houses on the very top of the hill above us.

It was a shame as the first museum we’d picked out to visit was closed as by then it was 2pm and it didn’t open again until 6pm, so we carried on walking and came to the main square and the Catedral de Cuenca.  We paid for an audio guide for the Cathedral which was very detailed and took in all the features, yet another cathedral which was built on the site of the main mosque, so it was huge.  I’ve rarely seen a cathedral which was so full of light mainly due to the stained-glass windows which had been changed to modern ones in the ‘60’s.  It seems there was a competition and the best design won.  The glass was stunning.  The view from the cloisters was superb.  It was one of the more interesting cathedrals we’d seen on our journey (and we’d seen a few!)

We stopped at a small pavement café on the square opposite the Cathedral, where they did a very mean Berry Gin and an average tostado.  We’d finished our lunch and were debating where to go next as there were a couple of modern contemporary art galleries / museums we wanted to see and the castle, which was at the very top, of course. 

At that point a red Noddy bus pulled up in the square.  Problem solved, we’d get the Noddy bus up to the castle and walk back down.  Only of course the train actually went down the hill first, doing a tour of the lower, more modern part of the town with a stop off for photos of the hanging houses, and you’ll never guess which car park it stopped in, yup, the very same gypsy parking where we were holed up.  So, as other people got off to take photos, we popped back into the van to get a bottle of water and go to the loo, we couldn’t have planned it better.  Everybody jumped back on the bus and it took us up the winding, bumpy cobbled streets (is there anywhere in medieval Spain / Portugal / Europe which doesn’t have those flipping cobbles!?) all the way up to the Castle, where we got off leaving the other people to  take their photos and stopped off at a few museums on the way back to the moho much, much later.

At this juncture, I will hold my hand up and confess that I can be a bit of a philistine when it comes to some modern art.  The first museum we visited, the Fundacion Antonio Peraz, is based in an old convent on 4 floors (and a couple of mezzanines) and was packed solid with some good stuff and some stuff that I couldn’t help but turn to my OH and say the classic, “You could do / make that,” comment.  We weren’t allowed to take photos so I can’t prove it, not all of it was tacky there were some really interesting pieces too.  However, in one room there was a glass display cabinet about 3ft x 3ft and inside were about 30 or 40 little shapes made of wire; animals, people, chairs, etc and on looking more closely it seems they were all made from champagne cages, ie the wire, metal top and foil from champagne bottles.  At last I’d found some ‘art’ I could emulate but in order to do so, I’ll have to drink more champagne!

My OH is not amused!

Cuenca is a so different from anywhere else we’ve been to, I don’t want to sound too poncey but the juxtaposition of the old and the new blends so harmoniously, it just all seems to fit really well.  It must have been such an exciting place to be in the 1950’s and 60’s when it all started but the museums are still evolving.  One, the Museo de Arte Abstracto, is housed in one of the most photographed hanging house in Cuenca and inside it has been transformed into a modern stark white interior which shows off the large canvases perfectly but if you look outside the window there is the historic town all around.  Brilliant!

We cooked in the moho that night but didn’t ‘display camping behaviour’ (see Kings of Leon post) we had a walk along the river side and slept very well as it was so quiet.  As the museums had all been open on the Sat evening, we didn’t need to stay on the Sunday as well, so we decided move on. On Sunday morning, by the time we got up and breakfasted the car park was almost deserted, no coach tours today. When we got to the barrier it wouldn’t budge, we tried the ticket that the little skinny bloke had given us, feeding it in and out in all ways, we tried taking a new ticket and feeding it in, but nothing worked.  There was no way out as there were large concrete barriers all around the car park to ensure you didn’t leave without paying!  In the end I noticed a piece of paper sellotaped to the side of the barrier bollard that had something handwritten in Spanish (so Google translate didn’t recognise it) and a phone number on it.  I rang it and in a panicky voice explained we were trapped in the car park, I recognised the voice at the other end, it was the little guy who’d given us the ticket.  I don’t speak Spanish but I did understand enough to make out that he was telling me he didn’t speak English, so I did what any respectable English person would do and shouted at him that I wanted to get out of the barrier.  Within seconds the barrier rose, I jumped into the cab and hightailed it out of there.  Not forgetting to pick up my OH on the way out.

We followed the Aguri directions closely, as it’s a town at the end of the main road the only way was back the way we came so we didn’t get lost again.  Thankfully I’d discovered whilst having a fiddle the previous evening that we could change the voice to a normal mode, thank goodness, the lazy drone would have driven me round the bend (so to speak).  Whatever mode she was in, we were on our way to Toledo.

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