Cuenca: A visual presentation by Class I A

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CuencaA visual presentation by Class I A

• The city known as the Eagles nest because of its
  position high on a hill, is easily accessed by
  means of the N430/ N320 highways and has a good
  infrastructure within the city. The city is
  separated from the nearby rock face by deep
  ravines in the which the rivers Jucar and Huecar
  run.

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Castilla La Mancha
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• The province of Cuenca is one of five provinces
  within the region of Castilla-La-Mancha, the
  other four being Guadalajara, Toledo, Albacete
  and Ciudad Real. The whole area has some of the
  most historic and beautiful lands within the
  whole of Spain. Remains of burial grounds dating
  from the Iron Age have been discovered has well
  has some major Roman settlements such as those at
  Saelices and Valeria.

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• Castile-La Mancha (Spanish Castilla-La Mancha) is
  an autonomous community of Spain.
• Castile-La Mancha is bordered by Castile and
  León, Madrid, Aragon, Valencia, Murcia,
  Andalusia, and Extremadura. It is one of the most
  sparsely populated of Spain's autonomous
  communities.
• The capital of Castile-La Mancha is Toledo.
• Castile-La Mancha was formerly grouped with the
  province of Madrid into New Castile ("Castilla la
  Nueva"), but with the advent of the modern
  Spanish system of semi-autonomous regions (las
  autonomías), it was separated due to great
  economic disparity between the capital and the
  remaining New-Castilian provinces.

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• It is in this province where the famous Spanish
  novel Don Quixote by Cervantes takes place.
  Although La Mancha is a windswept, battered
  plateau (manxa means parched earth in Arabic
  hence La Mancha is not definitively related to
  the Spanish word mancha, or stain, which is
  derived from Latin macula) it remains a symbol of
  the Spanish culture with its sunflowers,
  windmills, Manchego cheese and, of course, El
  Quijote.

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• La Mancha's history has been tumultuous. Going as
  far back as the Muslim domination of the Iberian
  peninsula, La Mancha was the center of many
  battles between Christian and Muslim forces.
  Moreover, this region saw a lot of struggle in
  the 14th and 15th century with the unification of
  Castile and Aragon in 1492 under Queen Isabel and
  King Ferdinand.

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• How to get to Cuenca!!!

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• The city is clearly divided into two parts the
  old and modern. The modern half offers very
  little history, mainly consisting of modern
  residences, tower blocks and apartments. The old
  part is one of the most wonderful cities in Spain
  and is worthy of several days exploration.

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The Cathedral

• The cathedral, pictured left, located in Plaza
  Mayor dates from 1177 and showes architecture
  over several periods. The interior houses many
  works of art. there are several chapels located
  whithin each very different. The Palacio
  Episcopal dating from the 13th century is also
  worthy of a visit.

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• Within many of the cobbled streets of old Cuenca
  you will find rows of tall , town house , painted
  in vivid pastel colours such as those pictures
  left. This particular street is found trough the
  arch of the town hall, heading down the hill.
  There are few shops in the old town other than
  the odd tourist shop. For shopping you need to
  head to the modern part of Cuenca. You will
  however find a great shop near the town hall that
  sells all manner of local craft items.

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The Town Hall

• The town hall dating from the 18th century is
  located near the cathedral. Close to this you
  will find several street cafes where you can
  enjoy the afternoon sun. There are several car
  parks close but dont be tempted to park in the
  Plaza Mayor. Pictured left is the Plaza Mayor and
  Town Hall, looking from the cathedral steps.

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• Walk past the cathedral, up the hill to the
  castle for splendid panoramic views. There is a
  walk from the castle , heading even higher that
  gives you the best views. A little past the
  castle you will find a tourist ample parking at
  the top so taking a car through the town is not
  really a problem. This is also the place to be if
  you are walker. There are several planned routes
  giving the best sights.

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Local crafts

• Historical artefacts in the museums of Cuenca
  prove that for many centuries, the province has
  been well known for its craftsmanship in many
  mediums. Even to this day, craft activity has
  been injected with new techniques and new forms.
  The area has been noted for its crafts in ivory,
  glass, carpets and ironwork. Wood, ceramics and
  wickerwork are also still popular today. We have
  ceramics from Cuenca and Priego, glass from
  Cuenca, wax objects from Albalete and Tarancon,
  taxidermy from Mota and cutlery from Minglanilla,
  and these are just a few.

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Cuenca's beautiful Parador is in an old Sixteenth
Century convent opposite Cuenca's famous "casas
colgadas", the hanging houses - buildings which
seem to cling precariously onto the rocky side of
the gorge dividing one side of Cuenca from the
other.

• Because of the location of Cuenca Parador,
  visitors have spectacular views of Cuenca on one
  side, and of the Huecar River Gorge on the other.
  

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Villages and towns of Cuenca Province Alarcon

• In the south of the province, a walled village
  built to a medieval plan and well preserved. The
  village has four must-see churches and a castle
  where Don Juan Manuel wrote most of his works.
  The hill where the village is situated seems to
  have been inhabited since prehistoric times. It
  was conquered by the Romans, converted into a
  fortress by the Arabs and conquered back by
  Alfonso VIII. The enclosing ramparts are one of
  the best known and most complete defence systems
  existing in Spain today. The castle was built by
  Alfonso VIII on the site of an earlier Arab
  castle.

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The Hanging Houses

• The Hanging Huoses one of which is pictured
  right, are possibly the most surprising and
  amazing freatures of the city. These four houses
  literally hang on the edge of the cliff,
  overlooking the deep ravine near San Pablo
  Bridge. These houses have become a symbol of
  Cuenca.

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Belmonte

• A monumental town of great interest with many
  well preserved architectural gems , not last of
  all its castle. It was built by Juan Pacheco in
  1456-1470 on the site of an earlier castle dated
  1324.It was restored at one point and point and
  used as a private residence. The walled precinct
  whose 15th-16th century ramparts and glades
  connect the old town with the castle is
  particularly well preserved. Belmonte has more
  than its fair share of churches, palaces and
  convents. The hermitage of Nuestra Senora de
  Gracia dated 17th century is certainly worthy of
  a visit.

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Spain
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Madrid

• Madrid is the capital of Spain and the largest
  city in the Iberian peninsula. It is also the
  third most populous city in the European Union
  after London and Berlin. Its effect on and
  politics, as well as its major cultural
  influence, has ranked Madrid one of the major
  global cities of the world.

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• Madrid is also the largest city in Spain, as well
  as in the province and the autonomous community
  of the same name. It is located on the river
  Manzanares in the center of the country, between
  the autonomous communities of Castilla-León and
  Castilla-La Mancha.

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• Due to its economic output, standard of living,
  and market size, Madrid is considered one of the
  major financial centers of the Iberian Peninsula,
  together with Barcelona and Lisbon. As the
  capital city of Spain, seat of government, and
  residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is also
  the political center of Spain.

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• Madrid underground map

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The Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias in
Valencia

• The Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències
  (Valencian), Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias
  (Spanish) or City of Arts and Sciences is an
  ensemble of five areas in the dry river bed of
  the now diverted River Turia in Valencia, Spain.

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• Designed by Valencian architect Santiago
  Calatrava and started in July 1996, it is an
  impressive example of modern architecture.

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• The "city" is made up of the following, usually
  known by their Valencian names
• El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía
• Opera house and performing arts centre
• L'Hemisfèric Imax Cinema, Planetarium and
  Laserium
• L'Umbracle Walkway / Garden

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Spanish government

• Politics of Spain takes place in a framework of a
  parliamentary representative democratic
  constitutional monarchy, whereby the Monarch is
  the Head of State and the President of the
  Government is the head of government and of a
  pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is
  exercised by the government. Federal legislative
  power is vested in both the government and the
  two chambers of parliament. The Judiciary is
  independent of the executive and the legislature.

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José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (born August 4, 1960
in Valladolid) is the President of the Government
(Prime Minister) of Spain. The party he leads,
the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), won
the general election on March 14, 2004.
Controversial actions of his government have
included withdrawing Spanish troops from Iraq,
legalizing same-sex marriages and giving amnesty
to over 700,000 illegal immigrants in Spain 6.
He also presided over the Spanish Parliament's
approval of the Controversial Statute of Autonomy
of Catalonia.
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The Spanish King Juan Carlos

• I, King of Spain (baptized as Juan Alfonso Carlos
  Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias) was
  born on January 5, 1938 in Rome and is the
  reigning King of Spain (Rey de España).

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• On 22 November 1975, two days after the death of
  Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos was designated King
  according to the law of succession promulgated by
  Franco. He successfully oversaw the transition of
  Spain to a democratic constitutional monarchy.
  For passing on personal power to democratize the
  country, he is widely revered by Spaniards.

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• Juan Carlos' titles include that of King of
  Jerusalem, as successor to the royal family of
  Naples. He is also a direct descendant of Queen
  Victoria of the United Kingdom through his
  grandmother, Victoria Eugenie of Louis XIV of
  France through the House of Bourbon of the
  Emperor Charles V, who belonged to the Habsburg
  dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire of the House of
  Savoy of Italy etc.

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• His name, when rarely anglicised, is rendered as
  John Alphonse Charles Victor Maria of Bourbon
  (and Bourbon-Two Sicilies). He was given these
  names after his father (Juan de Borbon),
  grandfather (Alfonso XIII) and maternal
  grandfather (Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two
  Sicilies).

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Goya

• Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (March 30,
  1746 April 16, 1828) was a Spanish painter and
  printmaker.

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• Goya was a jester on the court. he was also a
  Spanish Clown and a chronicler of history. He has
  been regarded both as the last of the old masters
  and as the first of the moderns. The subversive
  and subjective element in his art, as well as his
  bold handling of paint, provided a model for the
  work of later generations of artists, notably
  Manet and Picasso.
• Many of Goya's works are on display in the Museo
  del Prado in Madrid.

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Salvador Dalí

• Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dalí Domènech, Marquis of
  Pubol or Salvador Felip Jacint Dalí Domènech (May
  11, 1904 January 23, 1989), known popularly as
  Salvador Dalí, was a Spanish artist and one of
  the most important painters of the 20th century.
  He was a skilled draftsman, best known for the
  striking, bizarre, and beautiful images in his
  surrealist work. His painterly skills are often
  attributed to the influence of Renaissance
  masters. His best known work, The Persistence of
  Memory, was completed in 1931. Salvador Dalí's
  artistic repertoire also included film,
  sculpture, and photography.

The Persistence of Memory
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Miguel de Cervantes

• Don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedrab (September
  29, 1547 April 23, 1616) was a Spanish
  novelist, poet and playwright. Cervantes is one
  of the most important and celebrated figures in
  literature and the leading figure associated with
  the cultural florescence of sixteenth century
  Spain (the Siglo de Oro).

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• His picaresque novel, Don Quixote, is considered
  a founding classic of Western literature and
  regularly figures among the best novels ever
  written it has been translated into more than
  sixty languages, while editions continue
  regularly to be printed, and critical discussion
  of the work has unabatedly persisted since the
  18th century.

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Pablo Picasso

• Pablo Picasso was born in Málaga, Spain, the
  first child of José Ruiz y Blasco and María
  Picasso y López. He was christened with the names
  Pablo, Diego, José, Francisco de Paula, Juan
  Nepomuceno, Maria de los Remedios, and Cipriano
  de la Santísima Trinidad.
• Picasso's father was Jose Ruíz, a painter whose
  specialty was the naturalistic depiction of birds
  and who for most of his life was also a professor
  of art at the School of Crafts and a curator of a
  local museum. from an early age.

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• The young Picasso showed a passion and a skill
  for drawing shortening of lapiz, the Spanish word
  for pencil. It was from his father that Picasso
  had his first formal academic art training, such
  as figure drawing and painting in oil.

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Real Madrid

• Real Madrid is a Spanish sports club best known
  for its football team which was three times World
  Champion, and also ranked as 'The 20th Century's
  Best Club' by FIFA. The club, which went in place
  of the Spanish FA, was also one of the founding
  members of FIFA. They play their home games at
  the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid. Real
  Madrid have been European Champions a record 9
  times and have also won a record 29 La Liga
  titles. The club also operates a reserve football
  team, Real Madrid Castilla, and a successful
  basketball team, Real Madrid Baloncesto and are
  in talks to sponsor a rugby team, CRC Madrid
  Noroeste and a Formula One team. Real Madrid is
  unusual in that, unlike most football clubs, it
  has been owned and operated solely by its members
  (socios) since 1902.

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Antonio Banderas

• Banderas as Zorro in The Legend of Zorro
• Birth name José Antonio Domínguez Banderas
• Born August 10, 1960 (age 46)
• Málaga, Andalusia, Spain
• José Antonio Domínguez Banderas (born August 10,
  1960), better known as Antonio Banderas, is a
  Spanish film actor who has appeared in several
  high-profile Hollywood films including Assassins,
  Interview with the Vampire, Mariachi Trilogy,
  Philadelpia and The Mask of Zorro.

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Santiago Calatrava

• Santiago Calatrava Valls (born July 28, 1951) is
  an internationally recognized and award-winning
  Spanish architect and engineer whose principal
  office is in Zurich, Switzerland.
• Calatrava was born in Valencia, Spain, where he
  pursued undergraduate studies at the Architecture
  School and Arts and Crafts School. Following
  graduation in 1975, he enrolled in the Swiss
  Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich,
  Switzerland for graduate work in civil
  engineering. In 1981, after completing his
  doctoral thesis, "On the Foldability of Space
  Frames", he started his architecture and
  engineering practice. Classed now among the elite
  designers of the world, he has offices in Zurich,
  Paris, New York and elsewhere.

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• Calatrava is currently designing the future train
  station - World Trade Center Transportation Hub -
  at Ground Zero in New York City.
• Calatravas style has been heralded as bridging
  the division between structural engineering and
  architecture. In this, he continues a tradition
  of Spanish modernist engineering that includes
  Félix Candela and Antonio Gaudí. Nonetheless, his
  style is very personal and derives from numerous
  studies he makes of the human body and the
  natural world.

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Bullfighting or tauromachy

• Bullfighting or tauromachy is a tradition that
  involves professional performers (in Spanish
  toreros or matadores, in Portuguese toureiros)
  who execute various for mal moves with the goal
  of appearing graceful and confident, while
  masterful over the bull itself. Such manoeuvers
  are performed at close range, and conclude (in
  Spanish-style bullfighting) with the death of the
  bull by a well-placed sword thrust as the finale.

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• Labeled as a blood sport and considered a
  traditional event by some, or an example of
  animal cruelty by others, the practice generates
  heated controversy in many areas of the world,
  including Spain where the "classic" bullfighting
  was born. There is contention between supporters
  of bullfighting who claim it is a long held and
  culturally important tradition and animal
  rights groups who oppose bullfighting due to
  the suffering of the bull and horses during the
  bullfight.

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ETA

• Euskadi Ta Askatasuna or ETA (Basque for "Basque
  Homeland and Freedom"), is a paramilitary Basque
  nationalist organization.
• Founded in 1959, it evolved rapidly from a group
  advocating traditional cultural ways to a
  terrorist group demanding Basque independence.
  Its ideology is Marxist-Leninist.

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• All formulations of ETA's goals have centred on
  sovereignty and self-determination for the Basque
  Country. ETA's motto is Bietan jarrai ("Keep up
  on both"). This refers to the two figures in the
  ETA symbol, a snake (representing politics)
  wrapped around an axe (representing armed fight).
• ETA has committed approximately 900 murders and
  dozens of kidnappings. More than 500 ETA
  militants are held in prison in Spain and France.
  On March 22, 2006 the organization declared a
  "permanent ceasefire." ETA broke the ceasefire
  with a car bomb attack on December 30, 2006 at
  Barajas International Airport, Madrid killing two
  Ecuadorian immigrants

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• The End!