Once again, we are making our way up windy little roads into the hillside, arriving at the Fuensanta Monastery, where a miracle is said to have occurred. It has something to do with a holy fountain (thus the name Fuensanta) and the Madonna appearing to one of the hermits who used to take care of church. Whatever the miracle, it is important to pregnant women and women with new babies who come here to be blessed.
Beyond the miracles, it is just a gorgeous monastery perched up here in the hills. The views are spectacular, and the building itself is totally different with a facade of bricks interspersed with varying sized squares of river rock. Pretty impressive. So too the interior of the church. The black Madonna featured prominently in the altar was saved from the purges and the wars, and when everything was finally calm, it was revealed to the people of the city by displaying it on the balcony of one of the buildings in the heart of Murcia (the one with the weird Yeti type figurines above the doorway). The Madonna being saved was sort of another miracle, in its own way!
Another stunning feature of this church besides the gold and silver and stained glass windows, is the dome fresco. It simply stunning. A representation of all the different individuals, represented by their professions, who live in the area, all circling around Jesus. Totally unusual and unusually beautiful.
A few minutes left to wander, then its back to the van for the ride back to Cartegena. This is a jam packed tour, with no time for lunch really, so I’m glad we brought the last half of yesterday’s sandwich to snack on during the 45 minute ride back to the coast. Once in Cartegena, we proceed on a walking tour around the town. Cartegena is the 2nd biggest city in the region and is a strategic city. It was built here because it is easy to defend. Water on one side, and 5 mountains inside the city walls that allow defenders to see their opponents when they are miles away. There were numerous silver, lead and iron mines once in Cartegena, and we see a lot of tin roofed cuppolas in the building designs.
Cartegena lost a lot of its population when the mines were closed at the start of WWI. People migrated to S. America but also to Algeria when it was a French colony. Many became French citizens and then moved to France after Algeria claimed independence – so a lot of families have very mixed geneology.
There are some incredibly beautiful buildings here, very reminiscent in style to Barcelona architecture, because the main architect who helped rebuild the city after WWII went to school with Gaudi and had the same design principals. Lots of Eclectic style, but many Modern art using iron, glass and balconies as features.
There are also some really neat iron sculptures – like the one of the soldier sitting on a bench that I cuddle up to! Oh, and the weird head just sitting out in the middle of the grass. Definitely eclectic!
Our walk takes us through the town and around to different little areas of beautiful buildings towering over us. The surprising part of the walking tour are the Roman ruins that are all over the city. They were discovered when people tried to renovate buildings – the city requires any renovated building to provide parking underneath the structure. When developers began to dig for the parking lot, they found the ruins – which must be protected. We walk past parts of the old city walls, and view through a glass canopy, where the original city streets were built a full story lower than where we are standing. There’s a section of the ruins that has also been preserved inside a building where signs point out the layers and ages of the ruins (which is totally cool). As we walk toward the ampitheatre, there is a whole wall of photos that show how the progression of the excavations – how the city looked in certain years, and how each site was excavated. This is only a taste of the interesting artifacts and museums here, which works out well, because we’ll be back next year and now we have a whole list of things to do in the city!
We end the tour back in the main square, where half the group can hardly wait to be let loose into the shops (they were really frustrating Carlos asking him when the tour was going to be over and if they’d have time for shopping….ay yi yi). Anyway, we totally enjoyed this little introduction to Murcia and Cartegena, and Carlos was one of our best guides yet. Bidding farewell to Carlos, we head up the street for a beer and wine, then wander for a bit ourselves, window shopping and looking around.
Then, it’s back to the ship for our nightly routine and Gibraltar!
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