Murcia City, Murcia [Part IV of IV]

Finally, I've come to the last post of the 4 part series on my holidays in south-eastern Spain. (There's much more to come!)

By now, I'm already nicely sun-kissed by the summer sun after hours of frolicking at the beaches of Dénia, Mar Menor & Alicante, as well as from roaming through the port city of Cartagena.

Packing away my bikini & beach mat and dusting off the last grains of sand from my sandals, I've decided to take a break from being near the sea and wander inland as I head to Murcia City.

Incidentally, just a short while ago I've read an article about learning to take better photos by leaving your camera behind. This is to help you truly feel the new surroundings with your senses, and not be distracted by constantly looking through the viewfinder, allowing everything else outside it to fall away.

So I decided to try that out. (Well I kind of cheated because my digital camera was in my bag while I left the DSLR in the hotel! This practice is easier said than done, ha!) Anyhow as you can see, I managed to not take many shots at all.

I walked along the outside of the city centre, down Gran Vía before cutting into a small street that leads into the heart of the historical centre.

Above: Casa Cerdá, the most prominent building at Santo Domingo Square. It houses some of the biggest brand names in fashion.

From Plaza Santo Domingo, the main avenue of medieval and renaissance Murcia - La Trapería Street - runs all the way down until it reaches the most important religious building in the city, the Cathedral of Santa María.


Above: Santo Domingo Square, leading to Trapería Street.


Above: The heavily decorated façade of the Royal Casino of Murcia, located along Trapería Street.


Above: View of the Bell Tower of the Cathedral of Santa María from Trapería Street. The Cathedral dates back to the 14th century and was built over the place where a Moorish Mosque once stood.

As it turned out, I had a wonderful afternoon wandering around the city alone, spending time admiring the architectural details of some of Murcia's most important buildings, observing the locals buzzing about in their daily lives as I sip coffee from a café, and then more walking.

No pressure, no rush, no tons of photos waiting to be edited. Just a closer intimacy with the new place without the camera constantly coming in between - a refreshing way to wrap up this trip.

Cartagena, Murcia [Part III of IV]

Located along the Mediterranean coast in Murcia and noted for its importance as a maritime port and the Spanish Navy Department, Cartagena refers to itself as ‘the Port of Cultures’ and indeed it is.

With its beautiful palm tree lined maritime esplanade and charming city centre filled with some amazing modernist architecture, Cartagena promises a pleasurable walk as you discover its history through its defensive forts, roman ruins, city sights and major museums!

Above: The lovely, spacious esplanade along the port, lined with palm trees.




Above: Yachts docked in the harbour.


Above: The Real Club Regatas


Above: A bronze statue to commemorate the victims of terrorism.



Above & Below: One of the most monumental buildings in the city is the Palacio Consistorial or the City Hall of Cartagena, which was built in the early 20th century and stands at the entrance to the city centre along Calle Mayor. Its grand appearance is simply breath taking.

Above: Walking through the city centre.

Above: Some of the interesting buildings built by some of the city's leading architects.

The journey to discover more of Cartagena continues upwards through the 15 storey tall “Panoramic Lift”, which brings one to the Torres Park and Cartagena's visitor’s centre housed in the 13th century Castillo de Concepcion. From here, learn about the history of Cartagena and enjoy a panoramic view of the city!

Above: The Panoramic Lift. The ruins of the Roman Amphitheatre can be seen from here.


Above: The Torres Park located up on a hill offering some fantastic view of the city and harbour.


Above: View from the top.

Mar Menor & La Manga, Murcia [Part II of IV]

One of the main highlights of my 5 day south-eastern Spain trip was Mar Menor.
Mar Menor is a huge salt water lagoon located on the coastline in Murcia. Formed over time by a strip of land that almost completely separates it from the Mediterranean Sea, Mar Menor quite literally becomes ‘the little sea’. [Click here for a satellite view of Mar Menor.]

With a surface area of 170 sq. km, Mar Menor is just 8m at its deepest. The beaches of Mar Menor slope so gently, that you’ll have to walk quite a distance into the water before reaching a waist deep level. Its calm and warmer waters make it an ideal place for kids and families.



I spent a couple of nights at a town on the inland coast called Los Alcazares. It's one of those small and friendly towns where everybody knows everybody, and locals spend their hot summer evenings sitting outside their homes with their abanicos and chatting the night away with their neighbours.


Above: The Manzanares beach of Los Alcazares.


Above: Seafood at San Antonio restaurant which is built on a pier stretching out into Mar Menor.

Above: View of the houses by the Manzanares beach in Los Alcazares from San Antonio Restaurant.


Above: What looks like an almost completely blacked out picture is actually the partial view of the 21km long La Manga lighted up at night, as seen from Los Alcazares.

Now back to the strip of land which separates Mar Menor from the Mediterranean Sea. It actually does have a name of its own. It’s appropriately called ‘La Manga’, or ‘The Sleeve’ as it resembles one physically. It is approx. 21km long with an average width of 300m.

Today, La Manga has many luxurious sea facing apartments, hotels and restaurants and the really cool thing about being on La Manga, is that you can choose to go to the little sea, or to the big sea!


Above: As we drove down the stretch of La Manga, we came across this restaurant by the beach called Restaurante Escuela de Pieter where we stopped for lunch. They typically do not entertain walk-ins but we were promptly taken care of by a gracious gentleman who appears to run this place. Thanks Miguel!

Above: The 'must try' local fish + rice dish, Caldero.


Above: One thing we noticed while having lunch, was that most of the patrons came into the restaurant via the beach on their yachts!

Above: The rocky part of Mar Menor beach.

To take advantage of the 'double fun' that La Manga uniquely offers, we decided to park our car at possibly the narrowest part of the strip, just so that we can spend some time waddling in the shallow waters of Mar Menor, and then literally just cross the road and be at the Mediterranean sea...ahh...heaven...!!!


Above: The side with the Mediterranean sea. I can't believe how clean and quiet it is. The 2 hours spent here was possibly the best moment for me.


Above: One of the many dream beach houses I saw on La Manga.
This one has a front that faces the Mediterranean sea, and a back that faces Mar Menor.

I just can't get enough of the Mediterranean water...how I wish I could live here all summer!

CAMPEONES! CAMPEONES! OLÉ OLÉ OLÉ!!!

Spain - the reigning Champion of the World Cup 2010!

VIVA ESPAÑA!!!! VIVA LA ROJA!!!!

Victory celebrations @ Los Alcazares, 11 July 2010.