Ecuador's UNESCO colonial jewel — cobblestone plazas, flower markets, and the best ceviche de camarón in the Andes
Cuenca is Ecuador's third-largest city and its cultural capital — a UNESCO World Heritage colonial centro histórico of white-domed churches, flower-filled plazas, and 16th-century mansions with blue-shuttered balconies over the Tomebamba river. The city is built on the ruins of the Inca city of Tomebamba, one of the most important Inca administrative centres outside Cusco. Cuenca's food market culture is extraordinary — the Mercado 10 de Agosto and Mercado 9 de Octubre are temples of Andean produce, and the city is known for cuy (roasted guinea pig), mote (hominy corn), and ceviche de camarón…
Cuenca's site was first occupied by the Cañari people, who were conquered by the Inca in the 1460s under Tupac Yupanqui. The Inca built Tomebamba here as a 'second Cusco' — a major administrative centre for the northern empire. The Spanish founded the colonial city of Santa Ana de los Cuatro Ríos de Cuenca on top of it in 1557, deliberately building the new cathedral over the Inca palace. Cuenca was the birthplace of three Ecuadorian presidents and has historically been the most conservative and Spanish-influenced of Ecuador's cities — a tension that plays out beautifully in its architecture.