The City of Murcia

Our campsite is in the region of Murcia, one of the 17 self-governing regions of Spain. Most regions have several provinces but Murcia has just one so the city of Murcia is both the provincial and regional capital.

This is our first visit to the city in the 12 years we have been coming to the area. It takes us about an hour on motorway roads that conveniently run close to the centre. We park in an underground car park and come out, by chance, right in front of the town hall. It’s always pot luck where you pop up from an underground car park. We find ourselves in a very pretty plaza.

Heading for Tourist Info and the invariable free map, we pass an elegant square with statue. Pigeon on statue’s head.

The Tourist Info assistant hands over the free map and scribbles thereon some tapas bars. As we turn to leave we observe that a Jehovah’s Witness has infiltrated the tourists and is dishing out his own publications to visitors who think they are getting information leaflets. But we have sussed him out and decline more politely than he deserves.

Exit Tourist Info into the Plaza Cardinal Beluga and look directly across to the magnificent cathedral façade and the campanile (bell tower).

But coffee and cake must come first, so we enter a cafe in the square. However, the café is either severely undermanned or severely inefficient; ordering three times and waiting hopefully each time, we eventually get a cake, but no coffee. After half an hour we pay for the cake and I ask, where was the coffee? Full of “Lo siento mucho señor” apologies, but no explanation. It’s odd that you can feel sorry for people and annoyed at the same time. In two minutes we’re in the cathedral.

Begun in 1385, the building was finished in 1467, but added to and amended since so is a mixture of styles like many great churches. The photo above shows a part of the original building and below later baroque architecture.

As in most cathedrals and churches, there are side chapels financed by patrons for the protection of their immortal souls. Generally, the more important the cathedral, the grander the chapels. The example next shows wonderfully intricate stone carving with an austere overall impression.

This one is fancy gold, marble and cherubs with the same guarantee of the sponsors’ souls’ passage to the afterlife.

A service is being held in the cathedral so out of consideration we aren’t too snap-happy and are now back in the square. A disastrous flood in 1733 weakened the original cathedral façade and the old bishop’s palace, so both were replaced in the following decades in the same baroque style. The palace is a handsome building located opposite our cake-only café.

The palace is built around an elegant courtyard. Many people had a hand in its design and building, including the Italian, Canestro, foreman of the Royal Palace building works in Madrid. The palace interior wasn’t open.

Heading up through the narrow streets towards the Plaza Santo Domingo, we noticed few tourists. There were locals aplenty, generally well dressed. And we were the only pedestrians in shorts. I just needed a knotted hanky to complete the “Brits in Benidorm” image.

In the plaza is the church of Santo Domingo, in front of which is a bronze monument in support of human rights. Many countries have their own particular human rights issues and for Spain it is still the aftermath of the Civil War and Franco’s subsequent dictatorship. Many thousands of Spaniards disappeared and are lying by roadsides in unmarked graves.

 On a lighter note, we pass the Teatro Romea, the principal theatre that offers a varied top-class programme. It’s eye-catching style dates from 1862 but has been remodelled a few times following fires.

The source of the 1733 floods mentioned earlier, and in other years, is the river Segura. Unlike many Spanish rivers it seems to keep going all year round, and supplies essential water for the orchards and market gardens along its banks. It really is this milky green colour like pea soup.

Across the river from the old town are some pleasant gardens in which the stars of the show are the huge rubber trees, with amazing above-ground root systems, that dwarf our UK indoor specimens.

 Back across the river we note a few quirky features like these metal-topped palm trees. Not sure that it quite comes off but full marks for trying.

Our impression of Murcia was of an interesting if unspectacular city. There are many fine views just strolling through the old town, as in the next photo.

Clearly it’s not possible to make a final judgement after a few hours casual visiting and we would certainly return. It has some history dating back to Roman times but the city itself was founded by the Emir of Cordoba in 825 AD during the period of the Moorish rule. It was reconquered back into Christian rule in 1266.