Cuenca

Cuenca rises on a rocky spur between deep river gorges, its houses and walls appearing to grow out of the cliffs. Founded as a Muslim stronghold, it was conquered by Alfonso VIII of Castile in 1177 and became a royal town and bishopric. Its great cathedral was among the earliest Gothic churches in Spain. The upper town's famous hanging houses overlook the gorge of the Huécar. Built in the later Middle Ages and largely rebuilt in the sixteenth century, their narrow, tall forms make dramatic use of the precipitous site. Churches, palaces and convents give the city a rich architectural record of the centuries that followed the conquest.