Cuenca

En el entorno de Madrid se encuentran varias capitales de provincias (Toledo, Avila, Segovia y Cuenca) de gran belleza y cuyo legado histórico se enfrenta a uno de los mayores problemas del país: la corrupción urbanística (véase el caso de Toledo donde la declaración de Patrimonio de la Humanidad peligra ante el atropello de la historia que se esta produciendo en la Vega Baja)

De las cuatro ciudades, Cuenca ha sido la mas desafortunada geográficamente, porque 160 km eran demasiados para las excursiones de un día desde Madrid. Es de suponer que la llegada del AVE facilitara mucho la labor y también es de suponer que artículos como este en el NY Times ayudaran lo suyo: Spain’s Ageless Beauties






Reproduzco algunos párrafos, para leer entero el articulo, sobre Paradores y Cuenca, hay que registrarse en la web de NY Times:

"NESTLED on cushioned, mahogany wicker armchairs spread across a terra-cotta floor, chatty knots of Spaniards nurse drinks and rest legs, weary after a day of climbing hills in the medieval town of Cuenca, displayed before them outside large arched windows. The bar they are in has walls that are almost as old as the town and hung with antique pen-and-ink drawings of Spanish soldiers and admirals in brushed-metal frames, stern images softened by the crisp, cheerful yellowy green of the walls and silk curtains, a combination that faintly recalls a colonial tropical destination or the summer Pottery Barn catalog..."

"...Cuenca is an ancient city with a 12th-century core. In 1177, Alfonso VIII “liberated” it from the Moors, and the construction of a central cathedral began. While quaint and, occasionally, exquisite, it is like many of the ancient parador locations: a bit far from everything. (Elsewhere in Spain, if you call someone “from Cuenca” it’s akin to saying from “the sticks.”

"Cuenca’s parador lies just across a narrow, nerve-racking wood-and-iron bridge spanning the Huécar gorge from the base of the old city. The building seems to grow from the rock rather than cling to it — especially seen from the far side of the gorge, out the window of the Fundación Antonio Pérez, another former convent and one of two major stops for modern art — the other is the well-edited Museo de Arte Abstracto Español, housed in one of the casas colgadas."

"But then neither is the art-space Espacio Torner, housed since December in the Iglesia de San Pablo, once the private chapel, and attached to the parador. Inside, abstract paintings and sculptures of a Cuenca native, Gustavo Torner, are displayed with stark restraint and focus. The combination of space and light — the soaring vaulted ceiling juxtaposed against the temporary white space allotted to show the works — is unexpectedly powerful."