CUenca, spain

Cuenca is the capital of the Castilla La Mancha Province in Central Spain. 3 hours from the city of Valencia it has two main features: Ciudad Encantada and Hanging Houses.

Ciudad Encantada (The Enchanted City) could almost have been named the City of Stones. A walk through this park and you'll stand amazed at the different massive rock formations. On June 11, 1929 it was declared a Natural Site of National Interest. Use your imagination and see rock formations in the shape of ships, bears, bridges, a croc vs elephant, the list goes on. It took about 3.5 hours to complete one of the routes provided. Packed a sandwich and had a picnic with my friends in the park before making our way to the city of Cuenca to see the hanging houses. 

On our way to the city, we stopped at was is called Ventano del Diablo (The Devil's Window). Our tour guide said it got its name because this is where the Devil himself practiced witchcraft and threw anyone who looked through the window to their death. He tells us this after the fact!!!! NEXT STOP, PLEASE! 

Finally, we made it to the Hanging Houses. The houses are literally hanging off a cliff with views of the Jucar River. Alexa, play Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer". Some of the houses were built up 13 stories high. Possibly the world's first skyscrapers, before NYC. After our city tour we made our way down the mountain to have a glass of wine at Grotte. It is a bar built into the rock. It was a great idea until we had to hike back up the mountain to our bus! Over half an hour of straight uphill madness.