A Brief History of Murcia,
Places to visit on Holiday in Spain.
Murcia was until recently that bit of Spain you passed through without stopping on the way to holiday in Spain somewhere else. You may have spent a bit of time on the Mar Menor diving or sailing, Europe's biggest salt-water lagoon and said to be one of the top spots for diving wrecks and underwater exploration or fishing in Spain, given that the water is almost constantly warm, but Murcia was not seen as a venue to visit in Spain. But that will soon change.
For a taste of the Real Spain, begin in the capital city, also called Murcia. Every lightly populated town in Spain will lay claim to having some Roman remains, but Murcia is honest enough to admit that nothing much actually happened there until the Moorish king Abderraman II founded the city in 825.
The place has a Baroque feel on the whole excepting a few Modernist embellishments. Much of the city's architecture dates back to the 18th-century at which time a large silk industry brought great wealth, remembered only by the Mulberry trees that line the streets, which were grown to feed the silk worms.
The Cathedral can be seen from the skyline and is a good place to start your tour.
Its Gothic 14th-century origins took four hundred years to complete and could be seen as a gallery of Christian Art. The Baroque entrance might have been designed to look like an altar, bringing religion into the square and highlighting the will of the church.
The Cathedral is worthy of a visit if only to see the Velez Chapel designed in the mode of horro vacui. Admire the stonework. Walking From the Cathedral a short distance to Calle Traperia, Cloth Street, named, after the trades people that worked there, and you travel from the glorious in praise of God to the impressive in praise of Mamon – the Casino.
Spanish casinos were gentlemen's clubs more than places to lose the housekeeping at, and Murcia's may be the most beautiful in the Spain. From when you enter the Arab patio, styled on Granada's Alhambra, the decor magnificent in an extreme Victorian way. Many of the rooms are still used privately for members. The ladies powder room ceiling (formerly the armoury until the ladies stood their ground and demanded entrance back in the 1920's), is magnificently painted with maids with butterfly wings, one is falling to earth with wings burned for copying Icarus and flying too close to the sun. The Salon de Baile, the ballroom styled on Versaille, with its silk hung walls and enormous candelabra are breathtaking.
Lover’s alleyways are in abundance, usually ending in a square a fountain and trees, maybe a cafe to sit outside for a while before wandering off to join the rest of the tourists.
Southwest to Lorca, the Fortress of the Sun, a name given by the Romans, which they pronounced it Eliocroca. One of the cities on the Via Augusta, the ancient road from Rome to Cadiz and the longest in the Roman Empire, Lorca was for four hundred years the border line between Moorish and Christian kingdoms and its architecture and customs span both sides of the divide.
The town is overlooked by the Fortress of the Sun itself, whose recent restoration won a Spanish award as Best Active Tourism Product. The entrance to which simulates a time machine which takes you back to the 13th century where the guards dressed of the period tell you about life if the `good old days' as they take you around the castle. Well worth a visit. Lorca during the summer months hosts open-air concerts, which are held in the castle.
Palacio de Guevara is a Baroque place. Also known as the House of Columns, don Juan de Guevara Garcia de Alcaraz at the end of the 17th-century.
Many Spanish fiestas are based on friendly rivalry, the Christians and Moors is a good example. In Lorca being blue or white during Fester week may stir Old adversaries into clashes. The Desfiles Biblico-Pasionales enact scenes from the Old Testament and bible history, not with stunning images embroidered in silk and gold threads worn as capes by horsemen in the parades.
Two main groups battle for importance and embroidery dominance, the Whites, (Paso Blanco or, to give its full Spanish name, `Muy Illustre Cabildo de Nuestra Senora de la Virgen de la Amargura en la Muy Real e Ilustre Orden Archicofradia de Nuestra Senora del Rosario, Paso Blanco') and the Blues, (Poso Azul, or `Hermandad de Labradores, Paso Azul'). They each have their own chapel but, the life-long commitment to a colour that if a White wants to marry a Blue they have to find a neutral church to do it in. each also have their own museums where you can see displayed some of the beautiful examples of needlework art. The cost might be viewed as expensive for something the size of a single bed cover, but each one takes twenty professional embroiderers about eighteen months to make and lasts many years.
The Vatican recognizes only five cities and Caravaca de la Cruz is one of them, the others being Rome, Jerusalem, Santo Toribio de Liebana and Santiago de Campostela, three of them being in Spain.
In the 13th-century the town was over-run by Moors led by Ceyteabuceyte so Legend has it. Apparently He wanted to see how his new subjects worshipped and asked a priest to hold a mass. Unfortunately the cleric couldn't because he had no cross. Suddenly an angel appeared with two pieces of wood from the cross on which Christ was suspended and the mass could be held. They are now encased in a reliquary in the form of a double cross and held in the Sanctuary overlooking Caravaca, from where they are transported in the first week of May to do good works and be acclaimed by the locals. (Another explanation is that the Knights Templar brought them back from the Holy Wars.
Apart from its rich history Murcia has much more to offer; diving, fishing and sailing in the south; climbing and walking in the north and west; the famous spas of Archena and Leana; the Ricote valley with its water wheels and orange groves, so it won't be long before it becomes more than just a stop off between its better known neighbours, but a holiday in Spain destination in it's own right.