With its historical interest and good shopping, there's plenty to do in Cuenca and some good bars for when the sun goes down. The city is a big mouthful of culture, and if you don't want to suffer from intellectual indigestion by trying to see too many things in too short a time, your best bet is to be ruthlessly selective.

Start in the central plaza of the Old City, Parque Calderon, where you can sit on a park bench and absorb the atmosphere of the city. The Cholos Cuencanos [local indigenas] saunter by in their wide skirts and white or coloured panama hats, neatly dressed old Cuencan gentleman sit reading newspapers and shoeshine boys proffer their services.

The pink marble facades and magnificent sky-blue domes of the Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepcion [New Cathedral] overlook the square's elegant houses. The domes are the finest features of the cathedral, but because of design miscalculations when construction began in the 1880s, they were too heavy for the building, so the bells still haven't been hung. Take a look inside the cathedral with its fine stained glass and the marvellous play of light in its vast interior. The New Cathedral was built because the Old Cathedral, Iglesia de Sagrario [on the other side of the square but rarely open to the public] had become too small for the burgeoning congregation of Cuencan Catholics.

Just round to the left of the Old Cathedral as you face it, the small Plazoleta del Carmen is more commonly known as the Plaza de las Flores. Here, chola women sell their multifarious bright flowers in front of the little white-washed eighteenth-century Iglesia El Carmen de la Asuncion. Sitting on one of the square's benches and watching life go by in the afternoon light is simply heavenly.

Visiting Cuenca's 30-odd fine churches could keep you occupied for weeks, but if you only have time to see one other religious wonder it should be the Museo de las Conceptas, housed in the infirmary of the Convent of the Immaculate Conception on Hermano Miguel 6-33. The chapel contains a beautiful, but lurid, display of crucifixes created by local artist Gaspar Sangurima, considered to be the Father of Arts and Crafts in Cuenca. Among the religious art from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, the poignant toys of the nuns-to-be are also displayed. The museum is open Monday to Friday 9 am to 3:30 pm, and it's worth popping into the adjoining Iglesia de las Conceptas to admire its fine gold-leaf altar and impressive carved wooden doors. Also close to the church, on Presidente Cordova 6-26, is the small, privately-run but enlightening Museo de Identidad Canari, on the first floor of an antiques shop.

It might be said that arts, crafts and religion, in reverse order, are what Cuenca is all about. Certainly there are enough churches and museums to back up such a theory. The other two admired for their beauty are the rebuilt Iglesia San Francisco by the square of the same name, which is famed for its beautiful carved high altar and gold-leaf pulpit, and the Iglesia de San Sebastian, about six blocks west of Parque Calderon and marking the old town's limit. The seventeenth century church is among the city's oldest, fronting a peaceful little square which belies the city's most headline-grabbing crime. It was in this square that the surgeon of the French Geodisic Mission was murdered over his love affair with a Creole woman.

The Museo del Banco Central, just out of the centre of town at the Pumapungo archaeological site on Larga and Huayna Capac, does a fine job of displaying artifacts [with some beautiful jewellery] relating to regional Inca and pre-Inca civilizations, as well as great reconstructions of indigenous cultures, from Shuar huts to sierran masked dancers. The archeological site isn't particularly inspiring, but was where most of the artifacts displayed originated. More interesting is the nearby Ruinas de Todos los Santos [open Monday to Friday 8am to 4pm] which features old Incan walls and trapezoidal niches.

The Museo Remigio Crespo Toral features the personal collection of the illustrious Doctor Crespo that ranges from pre-Hispanic artifacts through religious art and on to his salon as it was in the early twentieth century. Before visiting, check that the museum is not closed for renovation.

Close by, at the bottom of the steps leading from Calle Larga to the barranco [riverside], the enjoyable Museo de Artes Populares is housed within the beautiful old mansion of the Centro Interamericano de Atesanias y Artes Populares [CIDAP]. Colourful arts and crafts from across the Americas fill the display rooms, including musical instruments, ceramics, wood carvings and papier-mache, with some works for sale. CIDAP is open Monday to Friday 9:30 am to 1 pm, and 2:30 to 6 pm, Saturdays 10 am to 1 pm. From here, you can walk along the grassy banks of the Rio Tomebamba.

If you want to see enjoy some more contemporary art, head to the Museo de Arte Moderno, close to Plaza San Sebastian. The museum, open Monday to Friday 8:30 am to 1 pm and 3 to 6:30 pm, hosts temporary exhibitions of both national and Latin American artists, generally of high quality. The other place for some modern art is the Casa de Cultura, near the Old Cathedral. Exhibitions of local artists are held and paintings sold on the second floor of the building.

For the best views of the city, take a taxi across the river and up to the Mirador de Turi, south of the centre. The location is safe, and the panorama of the city, when illuminated on Friday and Saturday nights, is stunning to say the least.

Last updated 12th July 2006

|Article contributed by Dominic Hamilton|||

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