Afterthoughts

Well. it´s been some time now since i came back from Cuenca, so it´s a good time to think of some conclusions about the trip.

First of all, it was well worth it. I had a lot of fun those days, and have good memories. Walking in Cuenca, with no marked path, reconogising places here and there, remembering the best moments of SnW, was great fun. Also, finding places that i didn´t expect to exist was awesome, like the ruined house or the "Cristo del pasadizo". I would have done the trip on a normal weekend, and slept into the car if i had known how much worth this was...

I went on this trip, or adventure if you like, alone. Even if my friends and family are tolerant with my weaboo side, this trip would just be useless and boring for them, so i went alone. I am a bit of a lone wolf so i don´t really care, in fact traveling alone is the best way to see and discover places, also it´s very relaxing, having 3 days all for miself.

In my case, this travel was relatively easy, because i live at a reasonable 6 hour distance from Cuenca, i have a car at my own disposition and i am perfectly independent, had money to afford, and finaly got enough free days to do it on confort. I understand that if you are not Spaniard, something like this gets hard and expensive, but i encourage you to do this if you have the chance. If you happen to be on Madrid or Valencia someday, you can catch a train in there, and get to Cuenca in less than 2 hours (guessed time), and with willpower you can get to see all the city in a full day.

It´s a great sensation rewatching episodes of SnW now, and knowing the city first hand. You can reconogise that building, you know where it is, there the characters are coming from and where their path takes them.

I do have some regrets. First of all, i didn´t take enough pictures. At some points i shooted like the motherfucking fist of the north star, but at most of them i would take 2 or 3 and enough. Because of that, i don´t really have much valid pictures for a perfect 2D - 3D comparation. Other times, i just forgot of taking pictures at all. Also you know first hand htat those beautiful scenaries exist.

You know, one may complain that SnW is a photoshop anime, made almost entirely modifying pictures from real life. After being there, i know that most of them were used just as reference. And having the chance to walk in Seize (with a bit of imagination) is something special.

Other regret is that i wasn´t curious enough. I did only inquire about the Japanese people making an anime with 3 people, who didn´t have any clue about what i was talking about. I should have asked more,i probably would ended up meeting someone who knows what i am talking about, or clues of things or stuff, but i didn´t bother as much as i should have. Also, there are some parts of Cuenca that i skipped, thinking that i would not find anything in there, but now i regret not having walked in there, or entering some shops, or even looking for a glass dolphin or a trumpet somewhere in there...

Also, i should have spent at least a night in the Parador. I decided aganist it because it was expensive, but i know that i have missing exploring it from the inside, and i could have set up the alarm at morning with "Après la pluie, le beau temps, track 24 of the OST, and shitted bricks right in the spot.

I went to visit Cuenca in august which mean 2 things: Hot days with clear skies and tourists, tourists everywhere... This is my own opinion, but all that people kills the mood a bit. I´d rather look for that Seize feeling without people everywhere and having to wait to take a single proper picture of something. Even so, the clear blue skies matched the ones in the anime, so everything wasn´t a loss.

One thing i have for sure, i am going back someday. may not be this year, or next one, but i am going back. There´s stuff i left undone, and what the heck, i loved the place. But next time i am purposedly aboiding the tourist seasons, and going in winter. I am more suited to the cold than to the heat, and i want to meet the normal life of Cuenca, with only his usual residents walking down the streets.

And frankly, i wanna go back to that old ruined building in Alarcon in a dark, rainy day...




I hope you enjoyed the read.