Costa del Sol property - Villas and Apartments for sale in Spain
Villa España A place to savour
Take a look around the side of the cathedral and you'll see a chapel that looks as if it was bolted on as an afterthought, which it was really, when a leading noble family decided to build its own annexe.
It is held to the main building by a massive stone chain, carefully and realistically sculpted. Inside, the chapel has some jaw-dropping, Gothic sculpture, with miniature pinnacles piled one on top of the other in a lace-like pattern that strongly recalls the intricate plasterwork of the Alhambra, only, in stone. It's no Although, of course, you are free to get in touch with one yourself.
Indeed, many of the churches - and there are loads of them in a very small space that somehow manages never to seem crowded - are built over former Moorish mosques. Little of the Moorish times survived (sad, considering that Murcia was founded in 831 and ruled until the late 15th century by the Moors, who also invented the irrigation that helps the surrounding plain to be so incredibly fertile and which continues today to supply the region and the rest of Europe with top-quality fruit and vegetables, but the influence remains, not least in the cuisine - try the local speciality of pisto, a tangy mix of aubergines, peppers, tomatoes, spices and olive oil. A meal in Murcia is an experience in itself: the dishes start off small and then seem to come faster and faster - and bigger and bigger. Standards are high as the competition is fierce. At the last count, Murcia had 1,200 restaurants, all working late to accommodate the Spanish predilection for eating lots into the night.
Dinner gets into its stride around 11.00pm. Don't dream of eating early!
Here and there you can find outcrops of the original Moorish walls, most extraordinarily in La Murilla, the basement bar of the Hotel Rincón de Pepe. It's a stylish watering hole but you may find it unnerving to find yourself literally rubbing up against a centuries-old piece of heritage as you sip your margarita or cervesa.
Murcia town is like a Chinese box. Its mainly pedestrianised centre just keeps opening up with new and unexpected spaces. The shop-lined lanes are a must for serious shoppers, with well-known designer names selling their goods at considerably less than UK prices.
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Mijas costa
Marbella
