Toledo and Cuenca (4/4 Spain)

We took a couple day trips from Madrid. One was to Toledo, the old capitol of Spain. It's about a half-hour train ride south of Madrid. Nestled in a valley, between a river that splits around it, it's gorgeous. As usual, we immediately try to find the highest point possible for a better view, so we hiked the (possibly hundreds) steps of a castle to overlook the valley. It was worth it! The town is pretty small, but nicely calm and quaint. We just wandered and happened to be in the cathedral as people were pouring in for the start of a free Easter Semana concert. We got to hear a half-hour until we had to leave, to run to the train station in the rain to go back to Madrid.

The next day trip was to Cuenca. It's an hour train ride to the south-east of Madrid. All that I thought of Toledo- the beauty, the serenity- was blown away by Cuenca. Our host kindly picked us up at the airport and drove us to her house, near the river and under the "hanging houses" the town is famous for. What I learned later is that Cuenca is a tiered city. The old town is about 1000 steps up from the newer part, and you have to climb every time you want to do anything. I have been writing for quite a while, so maybe I'll add more to this later. But all I'll say right now is that Cuenca is probably the most beautiful place I've ever been to. The place is just so full of contrasts and pure natural beauty. And I say this even though it was 10 (40) degrees and raining our entire time there. We hiked around the valley and found long, dark caves (that I was too afraid to enter actually), huge rock cliffs that end in the river, bridges that span the entire valley, and forests that just go on and on. And in the old town, there are ancient churches and buildings all around you. And we actually had good food there! Mushroom cream croquettes, conumme, sausage, warm "salsa", lamb, and fries. Cuenca was also having a festival while we were there, and we attended a concert of a piano/cello duet. In my notes I wrote, "The cello was actually the primary instrument (I was surprised); he was GREAT. What talent. He breather very heavily during pauses and during the intense parts. The piano played beautifully with the cello. The harmonies and balance... Delicious. They showed real heart and passion, and the music was fabulous."

Later on, monks chanted/sang and gave us a tour of an old church (where I swear it was 40 below zero), we bought two huges pizzas at the store and baked them in our airbnb kitchen, and we got to see the river rise by like 2 feet while we were there because the rain was so strong and consistent. It was an incredible place with incredibly nice people, and finally some good food, and I will definitely go back to Cuenca again!!

Toledo

Cuenca

(the pics don't do it justice)