Cuenca Perspectives by Jim: Cuenca Perspectives by Jim: TRAVELING IN SPAIN: C...

Cuenca Perspectives by Jim: Cuenca Perspectives by Jim: TRAVELING IN SPAIN: C...: Cuenca Perspectives by Jim: TRAVELING IN SPAIN: CUENCA, S PAIN: Cuenca, Spain How could I travel for my first time to Espana, and not v...

TRAVELING IN SPAIN : VALENCIA

Valencia

Surprisingly to me, Valencia is about fourth in tourism among cities in Spain.  It's population for the city proper is about 700,000.  Much smaller than the 3,400,000 of Madrid.  I like this city a great deal.  Valencia is large enough to offer everything a larger city offers.  Yet it is more sophisticated than most cities its size with an offering of many international restaurants, universities, and high level historical and cultural activities.  

The city is very beautiful and clean.  It can be divided by me into three areas:  First, the beaches along the Mediterranean Sea which  unfortunately, I did not have time to visit.  I would enjoy the comparison of  coastal Valencia with its many beaches with the Mediterranean coastal area of Beirut from my visit there of two years ago--an area which was quite developed and attractive.  Second, the newer area of Valencia is where the awesomely splendid City of Arts and Sciences exist.  Third, the historic area, which is very charming, and still Valencia's biggest tourist draw.

Of all the cities I have visited, Valencia most reminds me of Honolulu and Waikiki.  It is coastal; at times windy and with  similar climates; and the people and the pace of life is more laid-back than in most cities.  Along with the ubiquitous palm trees, people drive sanely here.  There is no rush, and drivers seem as if they are moving in slow motion much like they did in Honolulu.  It is unusual in this day and age to be in a city where traffic isn't noisy and congested.  Valencia's major roads are laid out correctly, so that major highways don't converge into fewer lanes in the heart of the city, the way Honolulu's traffic did.  Valencia has two other advantages over the city centers of Hawaii.  I visited both in the month of May, and Valencia has not been inundated with massive crowds of tourists as had been the case when I was in Hawaii, and the food is more diverse and better than in Honolulu.  

It will take more than one post to cover Valencia:

The City of Arts and Sciences  

The photos on the Internet blew me away when I saw this massive architectural gem, and I was even more impressed to experience it in person. 

I have had some wonderful tours to date in Spain, but my tour of the Arts and Sciences complex was the most outstanding tour package to date.  The evening was immeasurably enhanced by an excellent guide, Nick Denton, a young man who is very personable, passionate about what he does, and is considerate of his clients and their needs.  He is well educated, and someone who truly can be called a Renaissance Man.  We had many interests in common and so little time to share them, but what time we did have made for an interesting evening of conversation.

Nick took me and the one other guest for the evening, Barbara Sanders, who was from the Frankfort area of Germany, on a fascinating one hour tour of the complex while he explained its historical,  architectural, and engineering feats.  

I must digress:  (Here comes the history lesson.)

  

This incredible complex was "designed by Santiago Calatrava and Félix Candela, the project began the first stages of construction in July 1996, and was inaugurated April 16, 1998 with the opening of L'Hemisfèric. The last great component of the City of Arts and Sciences, El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, was inaugurated on October 9, 2005, Valencian Community Day."  (Wikpedia)

There were cost overruns, and the complex never attracted the numbers of tourists that were the promised projections to pay for it.  Needless to say, the tax payers have been paying the bill as is so often the case with such public projects.  The architects are no longer very popular in Valencia.  I hope the day will arrive when the Valencians will one day appreciate what a treasure these men have given to the city.  Ah, a reminder of the Biblical verse that says, a prophet is not honored in his own home town.  

If anybody knows any billionaires out there, the complex needs $500 million to complete the project, specifically the exhibition center.  Right now, the billionaires are focused on restoration of Nortre Dame.

The architects created space of lightness from humongous forms of heavy concrete.  So much detail was paid to the sight-lines, angles, and visual impact of each structure in relationship with the others, as well as with the overall layout of the complex.  The imaginations of these architects were majestic and far-reaching.  The three of us wondered to what degree all that we saw and observed had been anticipated by the architects themselves.  Certainly these artists could not have imagined every angle and perspective of the viewer.

I was reminded of Frank Loyd Wright's designs, which often times appear to defy gravity.  Wright, considered to be the greatest of American architects, has suffered some loss to his reputation in recent years.  Some of Wright's buildings while uniquely designed, and challenged the engineers of his time; are now having difficulties surviving with age.  Nick and I wondered if the same, with time, would also haunt the works of these architectural geniuses, or if more modern engineering techniques might prevent some of the load problems that afflicted some of Wright's works as they aged.

Above is a harp like structure.  The four poles to the right were not a part of the original design, but needed to be added for structural

support, which according to Nick, are not necessarily functioning with the support intended, and is one of the few flaws in the design.

I believe the above is the Hall of Science.  Other major buildings include Europe's largest Oceanic Aquarium, which is housed in a number of separate structures dependent upon the types of aquarian mammals and reptiles; an exhibition center; an IMAX theater; and an Opera House or Concert Hall Complex housing three or four large auditoriums.

Nick said that the window below was specifically designed to capture the complex that appears in front of the window completely in its sight.  I hope you can see it in the reflection.

After our tour Nick took us to a rooftop tapas and wine evening in an apartment with balcony, which overlooked the entire complex.  All of this was part of the tour package, which also included private transportation from and to our accommodations.  We were able to take aerial photos of the complex, sunsets, and at different times of the evening as darkness descended and we could get illumination shots of the complex.

Above and below, the blue areas are the reflecting pools.

Notice the parks of walking and bike paths.  These green belts extend along the City of Arts and Sciences and beyond, uninterrupted, for nine kilometers (about six miles).

My Uber driver the next day after I returned to the City of Arts and Sciences to spend the afternoon at the Oceanic Aquarium said of the city, "It is as if space aliens had landed in Valencia."

The photo below doesn't do justice to the point I wish to make.  However, even the high-rises outside of and aligned with the complex of the City of Arts and Sciences appear to be staggered angled, and designed in ways meant to complement the design of the city.

                        







Barbara, Andress, and Nick

Andress, in the photo above and to the left, is an intern responsible for preparation of our meal and tapas.  His university major is in hotel and tourist management.  I thought it was impressive that Nick's company required the interns to know first hand the food preparation as well.

I was scolded by my son and one other friend for talking about food and the splendid tapas I had during my last night in Madrid, but failed to show any photos.  Problem partially corrected in the photos below, which were some of the savoring tapas we had that evening.

Upon arrival in Spain, when I first viewed menus of tapas and their prices, I thought I was going to have to pay a fortune just to eat enough tapas to equal a meal.  It's amazing how quickly tapas can fill a person.  Usually the tapas are eaten sparingly by the Spaniards  over time with beer, wine or sangria, in a casual afternoon of conversation. 

                 Andress, Nick, and Barbara.  

Nick and Andres explained in detail the dishes and tapas, and much information about the wines that were served.

At various parts of the evening we would go unto the terrace to take photos of the complex and the changing night sky as the darkness cascaded over the city.

 

Cuenca Perspectives by Jim: TRAVELING IN SPAIN: CUENCA, ECUADOR

Cuenca Perspectives by Jim: TRAVELING IN SPAIN: CUENCA, SPAIN: Cuenca, Spain How could I travel for my first time to Espana, and not visit the city from which my home in Ecuador received its name?...

TRAVELING IN SPAIN: CUENCA, ECUADOR

Cuenca, Spain

How could I travel for my first time to Espana, and not visit the city from which my home in Ecuador received its name?

Cuenca, Spain is located via the Euro express train between Madrid and Valencia, so I gave the city a shot for one evening.  It only took about thirty-five minutes to arrive from Madrid, and it would only take an hour to get to Valencia the next day from Cuenca.  The slower metro train also runs through town with many stops, and that ride takes three hours.

The population of Cuenca today is less than 55,000 compared to the city population of Cuenca in Ecuador which is over 300,000.  In Ecuador the historic district also happens to be the El Centro or main business district.  In Spain the historic district is completely separated from the newer part of town.  In fact, the new part of town could have passed for a small town in the United States.  It looked decent, clean, and basically non-descript.  It does sport, I am told, about six parks. 

Cuenca existed in the Middle Ages going back to the 700's when the area was taken control by the Arabs.  (I know, I promised not to write any long history lessons, but hey, it's Cuenca.)  The area went back and forth between various Muslim and Christian groups until in 1177, the Muslim forces were repelled for a final time from Cuenca, and from their castle of which little remains today.  

It appears that Cuenca had a pretty tragic history.  Cuenca's location when not involving conflicts between the Arabs and the various Spanish kingdoms of the day, found itself with a very flourishing textile industry for about a century, which was then destroyed by Spanish monarchs who did not want Cuenca textiles competing with their own self-interested industries.  

Napoleon's army devastated Cuenca and left only 6,000 impoverished inhabitants in the early nineteenth century. 

In 1874 there was a war of monarchs over who rightly was the ruler of Spain, and Cuenca found itself devastated again. 

In the early twentieth century there was a peasants' uprising against the clergy.  The bishop, and a number of the nuns and monks were slaughtered.  Today, when congregants and parishioners don't like what the churches are doing, they just leave.

Finally, came the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930's.  Cuenca was on the wrong side of history again, by being identified with the Republic, or the reds.  Things did not go well for the Cuencanos, when Franco's forces captured the city.

It truly seems that Cuenca, Spain could use some good karma.  It's good karma today seems to be a growing tourist trade.

Like Cuenca, Ecuador, Cuenca in Spain is a basin sitting in a valley in the mountains.  While Ecuador's Cuenca has four rivers flowing through it, Spain's Cuenca has two.  As I arrived to this Medieval city overlooking the gulches, I felt transformed into another time in history.  The streets are narrow, and make some of the narrow El Centro streets in Ecuador's Cuenca feel like boulevards in comparison.  They often meander in different directions and angles from the main road that led from my very attractive Air bnb in the historic district down the main drag in the photo below to the El Mayor Plaza where the cathedral is located.  The walk from the periphery of the historic district to the Cathedral is about one-half mile.  I hate to say it, but the sidewalks are in much better condition in Spanish Cuenca.

On the other hand, both groups of Cuencanos whether in Spain or Ecuador drive like maniacs.  Below is the main and  widest street in the historic district.  

There are a number of side plazas one just happens to stumbled across, which offer great views from different perspectives of the historic district.

                             Below in Plaza Mayor is the facade of the town's cathedral.  It is already early evening, and the cathedral was not open

The lower part of the facade has similarities with its namesake in Ecuador, but lacks the majesty of the towers and the triple domes  of the New Cathedral in El Centro.

The Immaculate Conception in Cuenca, Ecuador has absolutely beautiful doors of great artistry and quality, which is not the case with the church doors here in Cuenca, Spain.

This gargoyle on the cathedral is down right spooky.  I don't recall if the New Cathedral in Ecuador has gargoyles.  If it does, it's probably a cuy after its been grilled and before its head is cut off.

The charm of Cuenca, Spain's historic main street.

For those of you who live in Cuenca or have visited and wandered along the Rio Tomebamba, especially east of Avenida Solano, El Centro is up on a high ridge, with the green belt, walking paths, and whatever road exists on Third de Noviembre all below and generally well defined.  The ridge along Cuenca, Spain is three to four times higher to the top than in Ecuador.  As you can see in the following photos, the limestone and bluffs are much larger, rugged, and wild in Cuenca, Spain.

There are about three churches in the historic area.  There was a seminary, monastery, and convent.  Some of these have been converted to secular uses.

Below are what is referred to as the Hanging Houses for the ridge.

If you like abstract art, you should be able to read a great deal in the photo below:  (I could not find a plague attributing this to Dali, or Picasso, or anyone else for that matter.)

Above and below is the most famous and photographed building in historic Cuenca, Spain.  This is the remaining structure of what once was a common structure along the ridge of Hanging Houses.

Below is either the Rio Jucar or the Rio Huecar.  From high up I had trouble spotting the river.  It doesn't appear to be any wider than the rivers in Ecuador's Cuenca.  For those who have not visited Cuenca in Ecuador, I wish I could show contrasts of the rivers and ridges with Spain's; but sorry folks, I just don't have time to search for appropriate photos from Ecuador.

Those of you familiar with the Ecuadorian Cuenca, will notice how much wider the expanse is in Spain without the well-defined paths to walk along like in Ecuador.  In fact, the walkways that do exist are along the top of the ridge rather than below like in Cuenca's Ecuador.  That streak of white is a two lane road.

Now, one of my main reasons for coming to Cuenca, Spain was to see for myself some splendid photos of the historic buildings along the gulch flooded in lights of various colors, just like I saw on the Internet. I wanted it to be my own personal experience.   It doesn't get dark until 9:30 p.m.  It was also getting cold and windy, and few hearty souls were any longer remaining.  I crossed the long bridge to the other side, so I could get a good view of the facades when the lights came on.  When the lights did come on, I had to wait about ten minutes for it to get darker.

...AND DARKER

Once I took some photos, I return to the other side and shot some photos of the church building on the other side of the bridge.

I endured two disappointments in Cuenca.  One, all the color lights were amber!  What happened to the flood of varying colored lights I saw on the Internet?  The next day, as the taxi driver returned me to the train station, he informed me, "Oh we have colored lights, but only on the weekend.  You came a day late.  We even flood the city hall with colored lights, but only on the weekend."  (For the record, I never even saw the city hall, which isn't even in the historic district.)

The driver had no idea why the lights were limited to the weekends,  It just is, what it is.

The second disappointment was the fact that the historic area has some top-notched restaurants.  It literally had a list of Top Ten Restaurants in the Historic District.  I genuinely was looking forward to some wild boar that evening, which I had seen offered on one menu with other exotic dishes.  Oh, it's Monday, all but one restaurant was closed, and it was basically a bar.  It was too cold and windy to sit outside on the plaza.  I appreciated that the locals made room for me at the bar, as I settled for a cheeseburger with Spanish ham on those wide wedges of Spanish bread, and a favorite with Cuecanos no matter what Cuenca you are from--a side of pappas fritas.