The view from mid-bridge
The Hanging Houses, the cliff and the town in one frame.
Tomás Fano — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Tomás Fano — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Tomás Fano — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Skaja Lee — CC BY-SA 2.0
**An iron and timber footbridge crossing the Huécar gorge forty metres up — and the only place the Hanging Houses can be seen entire** — east of the old town. ⚠ **The present bridge dates from 1902** — **iron and timber**; ✅ **replacing a 16th-century stone bridge that collapsed**, **whose piers still stand in the gorge below**. ✅ **Its purpose was to link the city to the monastery of San Pablo** on the far side — ⚠ **and the monastery today is a Parador hotel**. ⚠ **Crossing it is an experience in itself**: **a timber deck**, **side mesh**, **a forty-metre drop**, ⚠ **and a slight sway as you walk**. ✅ **From its middle you see the Hanging Houses, the cliff and the town above** — **the one complete image of Cuenca**.
The Hanging Houses, the cliff and the town in one frame.
Remains of the stone bridge on the gorge floor.
An alternative view from the far bank, with a coffee.
Puente de San Pablo, 16001 Cuenca, Spain
**A Spanish state hotel chain inside historic buildings — and the idea saved dozens of them from collapse.** ✅ **What they are**: ***Paradores de Turismo*** is a network of hotels **owned by the Spanish state**, ⚠ **founded from 1928** with a double purpose: **stimulating tourism in remote regions**, ✅ **and rescuing abandoned historic buildings by finding them a use**. ✅ **The buildings**: **castles, monasteries, palaces and forts** — **restored and converted into hotels**; ⚠ **some of them close to collapse beforehand**. **The same principle that saved the Temple of Minerva in Assisi: what finds a new use survives.** ✅ **Examples**: **the Parador of Cuenca** (the San Pablo monastery facing the Hanging Houses), **the Parador of Santiago** (the Catholic Monarchs' hostal of 1499, ⚠ **said to be the oldest hotel still operating in the world**), **and the Parador of Granada** (a convent inside the Alhambra itself). ✅ **Is it worth it**: ⚠ **they are neither the cheapest nor the most luxurious in service**, ✅ **but staying inside a monastery or a castle is an experience you cannot buy elsewhere**, **and their positions are usually the best in town**. ✅ **⚠ And you need not stay**: **their cafés, restaurants and terraces are open to everyone** — **the cheapest way to use the location**.
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