Cuenca - another piece of the jigsaw puzzle

You know the general thrust of history for inland Spain:

Neolithic - ragtag of small tribes spending all their energies fighting each other
Roman - period of building a state with good infrastructure
Visigoths - pestilence... cold climate... poor government... waste of time
Moors - agricultural revolution... new crops... irrigation... good regional defence ... artistic standards pushed to new heights
Christian revival - reclaiming of land from Arabs - cooler climate... splintering into smaller states
Renaissance - warmer climates... better agriculture... concentration into larger states... golden period for the arts.

Cuenca missed out on Roman rule in its history. The Arabs did a great job building a castle and defensive walls that allowed a prosperous weaving industry to flourish. In 1177 King Alfonso VIII defeated the Arabs and made Cuenca his capital... for a while. Importantly, during his reign, the construction of the Cathedral was commenced. Today, the Cathedral of Cuenca is its crowning glory. The builder of the first phase, Bishop Juan, is the patron saint of the city. But every generation of Cuenca citizens has made further investments in the exquisite collection of art housed inside. Of particular note are the marble statues arranged in panoramas... standing on the floor of the Cathedral... around which you can walk. The use of different colours of marble shows great skill (in my humble opinion) .

There have been long periods of hardship for Cuenca... and a couple of periods of prosperity. It is surprising that the Cathedral has managed to retain its artistic treasures over the difficult periods. Today, tourism keeps the town afloat... not much else happening.

The layout of the medieval towns is interesting. Although there is not a malaria mosquito within 100 klms, the towns are still built on hills. Living on a steep slope has advantages... a decent shower of rain washes the streets clean of filth and disease carrying bacteria. South facing villages (the norm) provide sunlight for most of the inhabitants... helping with hygiene and heating.

The church and marketplace are typically located at the high point of the village. In days before coffee shops and supermarkets, the marketplace and church were the places to hang-out... have a good chat and catch up on the latest gossip... and learn the newest technology that allowed improvements in daily work. Having the market at the top of the hill allowed citizens the advantages of carrying loads downhill. The disadvantage is that district farmers and water carters needed to carry their loads right up to the top of the hill to reach the market... but they often had donkeys to help with the transport.

Today has been cold and windy... a clear sign of a seasonal change. It gave us a reminder of the relative discomfort medieval citizens faced in living out their allocated lifespan of 35 years (forget the 3 score years and ten).
In many ways, it is amazing how much these 'young' communities achieved... how well young kids of 20-30 organised themselves in testing conditions. Ask them if they preferred global warming or global cooling... and the answer would have been unanimous. Times have changed.