Page:A Handbook for Travellers in Spain - Vol 1.djvu/226

126 The W. façade of the fine parish Church retains its ancient and minute Gothic ornaments, but the N. was modernised into the Ionic order in the time of Philip I. Queen Cristina built herself a fine palace here soon after her marriage with Muñoz, who was made Duke of Rianzares.

Railway in construction to Cuenca.

[About 7 m. from Tarancon is situated the little town of Uclés (Pop. 1095), which lies amid gardens and Alamedas watered by the Bedija. A carriage may be hired at Tarancon for this excursion. On a hill above towers the enormous magnificent Convent, once belonging to the order of Santiago, of which Uclés was the first encomienda, and the abbot was mitred; it was founded in 1174, on the site of a Moorish alcazar, of which la torre Albarrana was preserved in the new edifice. It commands a superb view. The E. façade is built in the Berruguete style, the N. and W. in the classical, the S. in bad Churrigueresque. The chapel was raised in 1600, in the simple Herrera style. Uclés is a fatal site in all Spanish annals, for here, in 1100, Sancho, the son of Alonso VI., was defeated and killed by the infidel, whereby his father’s heart was broken; see the affecting account in Mariana (x. 5); the fatal spot is still called Sicuendes, from the seven counts killed there.

This building is now in the hands of the Jesuits, who have established a school there, and put the convent and church into first-rate order.

At Cabeza del Griego (6 m. from Uclés) are some neglected Roman remains, the supposed site of ancient cities. ]

Quitting Tarancon, the elevated table-land, varied, however, by undulations with swamps in the hollows, continues to

21 m. Horcajada, a true hanging place, with a fine stone bridge of 3 arches over the river Gigüela. Now the hills are covered with pines and oaks, and we ascend a puerto or pass over the highest ridge, from whence the waters descend E. and W. Crossing the Jucar, after passing Albaladejito the country becomes picturesque; and after threading a planted defile, rock-built scrambling Cuenca is entered by its ancient bridge.

20$1⁄4$ m., Concha, lies indeed a hill-girt shell, and is the capital of its mountainous district, being itself about 3400 ft. above the level of the sea.

§ 1. Inns: Calle de Cordoneros, tolerable, good food; Casa de Huespedes del Platero, bad. Pascual de la Cruz, Carreteria 63; the owner keeps a little tartana which may be hired for excursions. Pop. 7851.

Cuenca, one of the most picturesque cities in Spain, rivals Ronda and Toledo in natural beauty; the site is most romantic, the artistical objects numerous; the fishing, botany, and geology well deserving notice. The Spaniards will endeavour to dissuade travellers from going to this “tumbledown mediæval unmodernised city,” —aqui no hay nada,—no tiene nada digno de verse; let not any of our readers be thus misled, but set forth on this most interesting tour.

The chains to the N.E. are continuations of the Cantabrian range, which serpentines through Spain by Burgos, Oca, Moncayo, Molina de Aragon, and Albarracin. The fine forests called los pinares de Cuenca are proverbial, and rival those of Soria. Squirrels, ardillas, are very abundant here. The scenery in these immemorial woods and rocks is Salvator-Rosa-like, while the lakes and streams contain trout, and the hills abound in botany and geology, yet to be properly investigated.

These localities, in the 15th and 16th centuries, were densely peopled with busy rich traders in its staple, wool;