Has Anybody Seen the Bridge?

Last weekend, my housemate and I took a day trip to Cuenca, which is famous mainly for two things: the Bridge of Saint Paul and the Casas Colgadas (Hanging Houses).  Why are they called the "Hanging Houses"?  This:

Saves a lot of time mowing the yard.

Basically, Cuenca is divided into two parts: Lower Cuenca, which is the area of town where most people live, and Upper Cuenca, which is the more historic area.  And they obviously picked those names for a reason (I'll give you a hint: it's not just because one of them is farther north).  Compare the following two pictures, both taken from the aforementioned bridge:

Lower

Upper

I was basically standing in the same spot for both pictures; the only thing I had to do was make an about face.  The division between the two districts is pretty striking, is it not?

Walking around the city, I got the impression that they took the "city on a hill" idea from Matthew 5 and ran wild with it.  Speaking of running, that is exactly the thing that I would not like to do in this city (not that I'd like to run anywhere else either, but that's beside the point).  For instance, check out the following hill/sidewalk/set of steps(?).  It still doesn't make any sense to me, and that's after having looked at it for quite a while.

A "stare-case", if you will.

We visited a couple of modern art museums (one of which was actually inside the Hanging Houses!) and did some general meandering.  After trekking about town for a bit, we traveled north, outside the city, to hike the surrounding countryside.  Accompanying us on our little nature walk was a cold, windy drizzle, which (it could be said) put a damper on the experience.  However, the clouds rolling in over the hills also led to some truly sublime panoramic views.

(...words fail me)

And we also happened to stumble across this little oddity:

The hills have eyes?

Well, there you have it: the main sights of Cuenca.  If you were paying attention at the beginning, however, you may be thinking, "Yes, but where is that confounded bridge?"

Right here.

To put things in perspective for you, here's another picture of the same bridge that I took from inside one of the Hanging Houses:

Mind the gap...