Paris1972-Versailles2003

And continuing digging into my vault of one of my favorite cities of my dear Spain. I came up with more on Cuenca! We did some driving up a hill and walks along a river and not yet in my blog. So , therefore, here is my take on the Monument to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the Huécar river gorge of Cuenca!!

There is a great nice monument up in the Socorro hill of Cuenca, where there is a huge Christ on the very top. This is Spain still. The Monumento al Sagrado Corazón de Jesús , on the hill going up road of San Pablo, or the Monument to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

It is a statue built in honor of Jesus of Nazareth at the top of the Socorro hill, at an altitude of 1,147 meters. The works began in the summer of 1951 and after great local effort was completed and consecrated on July 14, 1957

The 30- meter high monument consists of a 20 meter pedestal made of stone from the Cuenca quarries, on top of which stands a stone statue of Torrubia del Campo. The statue is crowned by a halo of galvanized iron. cross-shaped 8 meters in diameter and 2 meters high. At the base of the work is an image of the Virgen del Socorro or Virgin of Perpetual Help. At the top of the Socorro hill, at the foot of the monument, there is a viewpoint from which you can see the old town of Cuenca !

The Hoz de Jucàr carved from the Huécar river in Cuenca. The Huécar river is 14 km long, a tributary of the Júcar (see post). Its basin extends through the province of Cuenca, in the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha. It is born in the towns of Cuenca de Buenache de la Sierra and Palomera. The source of the Huécar river is found about 3 km from the town, in the area of ​​Ojo de Mejía, up there above Palomera, up to the present-day Trinity garden or Jardin de la Trinidad or site of Remedios.

After some 15 km of extension, its waters flow into the Júcar river, as it passes through the basin of Cuenca. It forms the Hoz del Huécar, a gorge about a hundred meters deep on which the Casas Colgadas or Hanging Houses and the Puente San Pablo Bridge are located (see posts).  At the beginning of the 20C, it caused several overflows, so in the middle of it the last km was channeled, since it is the one that runs within the city of Cuenca. To maintain its urban route with water, a tunnel excavated in limestone has been used and which crosses under the historic center of the city to transfer water from the Júcar River, to which it returns it at its mouth a km later. The tunnel pours the water through an artificial waterfall located under the Casas Colgadas or Hanging Houses.

You can have a nice walk which we did along the Huécar river inside the gorge ,and continue parallel to the river until a point where you cross it by a small bridge to continue later on its left side. If you go a little further, you will see an indication of the cave. After climbing a few meters along a dirt path, you will see the entrance to the Cueva del Moro or Moors’s cave on the right hand side and a plaque indicating that the name could have been due to being used as a shelter or home.Nice walk in nature !!

The Cuenca tourist office on the Huécar : https://visitacuenca.es/es/content/descubre-ciudad-y-paisaje-urbano/hoces-de-los-rios-jucar-y-huecar

There you go folks, another dandy episode of our road warrior travels in wonderful Cuenca, a must to visit I say! Hope you enjoy this nature and historical other view of Cuenca in stunning Castilla La Mancha of my dear Spain.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!

This is new post with older picture that again was not in my blog but needs to be. To give you an all around taste of this wonderful memorable city of Cuenca. The Teatro Auditorio or Auditorium theater of Cuenca has not been inside but took a ride by it and its impressive. Let me tell you a bit about it; and hope you enjoy the post as I

The theater is right next to the hill of Socorro or relief with an impressive Christ on top that I have on another post in my blog. The views are impressive of all the old town of Cuenca, and was told from the inside all can seen as well! The Auditorium Theater of Cuenca was inaugurated on April 6, 1994. The building, with a modern structure and design, occupies the space that was previously excavated by a quarry, on the slopes of Cerro del Socorro, next to the Huécar river and facing the old city. A wide and slender staircase leads to a large lookout square. A light canopy precedes the glazed entrance, behind which the spacious and bright halls open. The entire main façade is glazed, so that from any point of the building the impressive spectacle of the old town of Cuenca is visible, almost within reach.

It has two rooms or salas, The Sala Uno (room one) is distributed in several sectors and levels, so that a pleasant feeling of intimacy is achieved, very different from that produced by gigantic crowded auditoriums. The stage of this room allows three environmental arrangements: theatrical type, musical type (by mounting an acoustic box) and in front of the opening curtain. Sala Dos or (room two), coquettish and welcoming, has a semicircular layout, typical of university auditoriums. It is very suitable for conferences, medium-sized assemblies, symposiums, seminars, presentations, etc.

The official theater auditorium of Cuenca :https://www.auditoriodecuenca.es/default.aspx

The Culture heritage of Castilla La Mancha region on the theater (with nicer picture)  : https://cultura.castillalamancha.es/artes-escenicas/red-de-artes-escenicas-y-musicales/teatro-auditorio-de-cuenca

Inside the Teatro Auditorio de Cuenca there is a nice restaurant which again not tried yet but looking forward to eventually on my next visit to the city.  The pic above is from below to the resto corner. For memory, I put the link here: http://cuencacomidaengrupo.com/el-restaurante/

There you go folks, a slight feature of my road warrior trips in lovely Cuenca. Another spot to come back to eventually. Hope you enjoy knowing about the Teatro Auditorio de Cuenca as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!

I take you and me back into memory lane to our wonderful home for several years traveling in the area. I know I sound nostalgic and I am, always looking forward to be back. The family came here together and we love it! We rented house at 1400 meters in the mountains or Serrania de Cuenca. From our base in Las Majadas we saw the deep Spain I love so much ,and the family enjoyed it much; we came back several times.(see posts).

One of the sights was the Ciudad Encantada or haunted city and we love it in the woods ! It is found at Carretera CM-2104, Km 19. Valdecabras,you take from Cuenca Carretera CM 2105 direction Tragacete only 25 km from Cuenca.

The Ciudad Encantada or haunted city is a natural site of rock formations extending over 250 hectares and located in the province of Cuenca, in Castilla-La Mancha region in the Serrania de Cuenca massif. At the heart of this set, in the upper Jucar valley, around 1400 meters above sea level, high limestone plateaus offer a strange rocky landscape, a veritable labyrinth of hollow and raised shapes, This region of Cuenca is an outstanding example of karst-type limestone landforms. A signposted route of three km allows you to visit the site. Names have been given to the most notable rock formations.

The rock formations of the Ciudad Encantada are karstic modeling formations, whose origin dates back to the Cretaceous period, approximately 90 million years ago ,It has a very advanced karst where much of the rock has been dissolved, most of the Galleries have collapsed when the roof of the caves fell and only the blocks of the most resistant stone areas remain standing, which take on capricious shapes due to erosion. to visit the various rocks and formations that have been given names of animals and objects such as the tall tormo (symbol of the haunted City), which is located right at the entrance of the tour. Legend has it that it would be the place where the Lusitanian leader Viriato was cremated, The rest of the figures on the current itinerary are: The boats, The dog ,The face of a ma,n The seal, The slide, The Roman bridge., Sea of stone, Fight elephant, crocodile ,The convent ,Mushrooms. Theater ,The Turtle ,The Bears ,The Lovers of Teruel and The Face of Ariadne.

The Ciudad Encantada or haunted city is wonderful; and recommended by all locals.  Here you see stone mountains turn into statues, objects, monuments to look at marvelously done by nature. It has guided tours to explain all for five euros admission, and check ahead as weather is important here. Scenes from the films The Colossus of Rhodes (1961), where it is called “The Stone Desert”, El mercenario (1968), The Valley of Gwangi (1969) and Conan the Barbarian (1982) were filmed here.

The official Ciudad Encantada : https://www.ciudadencantada.es/en

The Castilla La Mancha region protected areas on the park : https://areasprotegidas.castillalamancha.es/rap/espacios-naturales-protegidos/enp-parque-natural/33/visita-y-disfruta

We passed by Fuentes ,south of Cuenca this time, I will added to this post as just wanted to have it in my blog and is a nice reverse story as the one above.  Fuentes is in the province of Cuenca, in the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha. Integrated in the Serranía Media area, it is located 19 km from the center of Cuenca. The town is crossed by the national highway N-420 , and it crosses the port of Rocho (1150 meters), in addition to the regional highway CM-220 that connects Cuenca with Albacete.

The origin of the current town of Fuentes can be traced back to the conquest of the city of Cuenca by the troops of Alfonso VIII, in 1177, and its repopulation advance towards I raised, In 2007, during the construction of the Madrid-Cuenca-Valencia high-speed train line, a paleontological site 70 million years old was discovered in this area. More than 8,000 fossils were extracted from it, making it the largest dinosaur cemetery in Europe.

The Church Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion or Our Lady of the Assomption ,from the 13C, The church with a single nave, the head formed by the main chapel and the presbytery, separated from the nave by means of a triumphal arch, covered with groin vaults, at the foot a simple elevated choir. Outwardly, it is worth highlighting the entrance portal with a semicircular arch of ashlar voussoirs, covered with a porch formed by two square-section pillars with chamfered shafts on the edges and covered with a three-sided wooden structure; the western wall is topped by the belfry formed by a pinion wall of ashlar masonry topped with two semicircular holes for the bell tower.

The Puente Viejo or old bridge, dated between the 13C and 14C, is 17.5 km long and was used to cross the Moscas River.

The Castilla La Mancha region tourist office on Fuentes :http://en.www.turismocastillalamancha.es/patrimonio/fuentes-64831/descripcion/

The Cuenca province govt on the Fuentes’s church : https://fuentes.dipucuenca.es/index.php/layout-three/iglesia

There you go folks, a dandy natural environment up in the Serrania de Cuenca mountains ! This Ciudad Encantada is nice for all nature lovers even me ! And of course, Fuentes is medieval deep country for a change of pace. This is real country an area of Spain still untouched by tourism in mass, and a wonderful spot to enjoy with the family. I know it brings lots of wonderful memories to me.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!