I woke up well before the 6:15 sunrise this morning, Saturday. There was little traffic and I could hear the river outside the apartment. We ate breakfast in the apartment before walking to one of the traditional markets in town, the Feria Libre, a 10-minute walk along the river park and then a few blocks more. It’s a huge market, the biggest in the city, and vendors were selling everything from eggs to clothes to pets. Nathan likes to buy fresh produce there because they have the best prices. It was a very interesting place to wander through.
We brought Nathan’s produce back to the apartment, then left again, this time to take the Tranvía to the center of Cuenca. There, we climbed a tower of the Municipal Cathedral of Immaculate Conception for a view of the city and walked inside the cathedral. We ate lunch in a small restaurant adjacent to the central Parque Calderón, and then walked by many stands selling sweets and some selling flowers. The traditional sweets were being sold in stand after stand around the cathedral as part of Cuenca’s Corpus Christi celebration.
After walking around and window shopping the small shops, we took the Tranvía back to Nathan’s apartment. Some clouds looked foreboding and it often rains in the afternoon, but not on this day. After a few hours of lounging in the apartment, we walked to a Chinese restaurant across the street. There was a large noisy group of Americans in there already. We ordered one of Nathan’s favorites, a hearty vegetable and shrimp soup (or vegetable and chicken), ate and then left rather quickly because we couldn’t hear ourselves think due to the large group. But it was good soup.
Lori's Travels 