The great thing about going to uni in the UK is the month-long Easter break, especially when there are no exams or deadlines on return. It allowed us to visit many different places and this year, Murcia was one of them. The main reason why we ended up there was a music festival called WAM Estrella de Levante, with Alt-J as one of the headliners. Realising that we might not get another chance to visit Murcia in foreseeable future, we decided to spend a day in this seventh largest Spanish city. Incidentally, we also stayed in another part of Region de Murcia, a coastal resort called La Manga, a few days before that. Below, we describe the highlights of our vacation and let you decide whether it’s a place worth seeing.

1) La Manga del Mar Menor - coastal resort

This town is located at the edge of South-East Spain; it consists of a 21 km long and 100 m wide strip which separates the Mediterranean Sea from the Mar Menor lagoon. This small stretch of land creates a perfect beach scenery as well as an ideal place for water sports. The calm lagoon water allows a safe practice of windsurfing and kite-surfing, whereas the windy Mediterranean sea offers a suitable spot for sailing and diving.

Unfortunately, no water sports establishment was willing to rent us a catamaran, so we decided instead to spend our day visiting nearby natural attractions:

Isla del Ciervo “Deer’s island”

This little island is located right opposite Playa del Ciervo and it is, surprisingly, accessible by foot. Until 2004, there was a 600 m long bridge/road that would connect both lands, however, it was recently removed to protect this sensitive ecosystem. Now, all you need to do is walk through the sea for 10 - 15 minutes until you reach the island - don’t worry, the water doesn’t even go above your knees! Having said that, we would recommend wearing water shoes as some parts can get a bit rough due to its vegetation and the presence of shells.

Locals picking up shells for their lunch/dinner

As you arrive at the island, you will be pleasantly (or unpleasantly) surprised by how natural it has been kept. Literally, the only human intervention on the whole island are an information plaque and some bins located alongside the perimeter. Other than that, it is all gulls and more gulls! (I am not exaggerating, I think there were like a thousand gulls flying over our heads)

It was quite scary as there was this constant fear of being pooed onto…

It took us around 2 hours to walk around the island (despite its tiny size) as there was no clear path to follow. So we got “lost” quite a few times… As a suggestion, it seems that a better way to see the island is renting a kayak and rowing around as the surroundings are the best bits.

2) Cabo de Palos

Located just south of La Manga, you will find Cape Palos, a small peninsula historically formed by a small range of volcanic mounts. This stretch of sea is considered one of the best scuba diving spots in Spain, with crystal-clear water, where you may find both reefs and corals as well as remains of shipwrecks and sunken boats.

Lighthouse

However, the jewel of the peninsula’s crown is the famous lighthouse built in the 16th century to protect the Mediterranean coast against the Berber pirates. Since then, it has gone through a series of repairs and nearly got converted into a 5-star hotel. As expected, this idea got rejected as this would affect the maritime safety plus the unique sea ecosystem… Today, one can still see the remains of the resistance against this proposal in the form of writings on the road leading to the lighthouse.

Tip Tip Tip!! Eat at “Chiringuito Verano Azul”

Super good vibes, real fresh seafood - a bit pricey, important to book!

3) Playa del Calblanque - **WILD BEACH HIGHLIGHT**

One of the highlights of this trip was discovering this wild, precious and natural beach located inside the Protected Regional Park - Calblanque. As this is a protected area, there are no buildings, shops or any touristic amenities in the whole reserve. Therefore, don’t expect a perfectly flat highway to access the beach; what you get instead is a difficult to drive, rocky road, which fortunately leads you to your desired beach destination: Playa Larga (which is the one we went to and the most popular one), Salinas or Negrete.

Maciek swimming in crystal-water … 0 tourists

Another thing to mention is that it’s important that you come ready - with plenty of water or beer (in our case :)). There is absolutely nothing but you, the sea and dunes of very fine sand. It makes for a great change from the heavily touristic La Manga resort.

Note: During the summer you can’t access the park with your own vehicle and need to take the bus at the entrance for 3 euros return.

4) Cartagena - historic city

This historic city was founded by the Carthaginian Iberian general Hasdruban around 227BC. It is considered one of the most important ports in the history of the western world, especially during the Roman Empire. It has been the strategic point of many wars, from the Second Punic War to the Spanish Civil War. Currently, it serves as an important commercial port as well as the site of Spain’s chief Mediterranean naval base.

Roman Theatre Stage

Port aside, we can find true treasures inside this city such as this very well kept Roman amphitheatre built between 5 and 1 BC. The entrance costs around 5 euros but if you would like to save this money, you can get a very decent view from the top of  “Castillo de la Concepcion”, a medieval castle which you can reach after a fairly easy 20 minutes walk uphill from the Touristic Information Centre - for free.

Castillo de la Concepcion

Halfway through the walk to reach the viewpoint of the castle, you will be welcomed by a bunch of amazing creatures with infinite colours - peacocks! They aren’t the friendliest animals but at least we were able to take a picture this close.

I swear their colour is so intense and their feathers seem infinite

Now, going back to the viewpoint, you can get a 360 degrees glance at the whole city. As a tip, if you were to go sometime, bring some beers and snacks to enjoy this beautiful view.

The city itself

As you wander around the streets, it feels like going back a thousand years. There are really cool buildings all around - even dated around the “Don Quixote” Miguel de Cervantes period.

Poem by Miguel de Cervantes

In short, Cartagena is definitely worth a visit!

5) Murcia - the capital

Unfortunately, there was a hostelry strike taking place during the days when the WAM Festival happened (what a great day to strike, Spaniards!), which meant that most of the shops and restaurants in the city centre (at least those that didn’t belong to a chain) were closed. Although annoying, it didn’t prevent us from discovering the best parts of the city such as… This very random fish sculpture inside the river!

Perfectly green water, yummy yummy

This represents a protest against the fact that the quality of the river water has downgraded so much that fish are no longer able to live here. To solve this, the government has implemented an on-going water cleaning process to restore the fish habitat.

El Real Casino de Murcia

Now, moving on to the real jewels of the city, we mention the Casino of Murcia, which is not a casino. In fact, it’s more like a real palace as well as a social club for the upper-class Murcians, where members socialize, play domino and even throw exclusive parties.

But what makes it the most visited attraction in Murcia are the 10 rooms that walk you through a history of art: the façade of eclectic style, the main hall presenting an impressive Arab cupola, the ballroom of neo-baroque style and the library dated on 1913 are just examples among the treasures you can find inside.

Cupola of Patio Arabe

Playing with the mirrors of the Ball Room

And the best part of all is the entrance fee: for 5 euros you can get entry plus a very well made audioguide (in our case €3 - don’t know why - I guessed we got on well with the guy :D)

Cathedral Church of Saint Mary

Another must-see attraction of Murcia is the Roman Catholic Cathedral located in the main square. It has a bell tower that you can access for a couple of euros to obtain another nice view of the city.

Unfortunately, we did not take a picture of it - so here there is a flowery photo next to the town hall.

Being Spring and the sun shining high, many good pictures were taken!

WAM Estrella de Levante Festival

Last but not least, a couple of pictures of the festival: 100% recommended, especially for the price - 50 euros for 2 days starring Alt-J, Kasabian, IZAL, Dorian, etc.

This was our 3rd Alt-J concert!!

Super front row for Dorian - only two good songs tbh…

Conclusion

Visit Murcia!!! It’s quite a cheap region within Spain - easily accessible by plane (Ryanair flying here), car or train. It’s got one of the longest warm periods of Spain since it’s located on the South-East coast. It was only April/May while we were there and were already on the beach!

Definitely, Playa del Calblanque was our favourite spot! And to choose, I would go for Cartagena before Murcia. (Only personal opinions here…)