Eurotrip: Caravaca

When I was planning my Eurotrip Murcia was a must have stop since Ana lives there and as she’s my Spanish sister I couldn’t be in Europe without seeing her. It was also my longest stop of my trip. I spent 5 days with Ana and it didn’t seem like enough time. 

But first I had to get to Murcia. Now I was planning on taking an early bus around noon. When I went to buy my ticket they were sold out. I freaked out a bit since I had to take a bus two hours alter then I wanted and since I was travelling without a phone I had no way to tell Ana I was going to be late. I bought my ticket, it was twice the price as the original one I wanted  but I had to get to Murcia and I didn’t want to wait 4 hours and arrive at midnight. So I bit the bullet and bought the ticket. Then I had to figure out how to get in touch with Ana. Turns out there was an internet café in the bus station so I was able to get in touch with Ana. All I had to do was wait for my bus.

When I got on my bus I was pleasantly surprised. You see I was riding Alsa Supra. I was unaware there was a difference from a normal Alsa bus…. Turns out there is a HUGE difference. First off let me point out there were leather seats. Yup and they were huge! I had my backpack and extra bag in the seat with me and wasn’t the least bit cramped. Also there was a TV screen thingy like on the planes. Now there wasn’t too much in English but I managed. Here’s a sort of picture I took of the bus…

Pretty legit right?
Now I was perfectly happy with my big seat and TV and music to occupy my trip. Nope clearly that wasn’t enough. I got fed! First snacks….

Then dinner…

And you got drinks with it. I only knew how to ask for a Coke so I had Coke both times. I also got yummy candies too. Over all it was a lovely surprise for me and I ended up enjoying the 5 hours immensely.

I should have know then that my stay with Ana was going to be amazing! Well let’s see where to start….hmmmm….. Well it was an insane 5 days to say the least. Filled with fun and talking and loud Spanish people and ham! 

The day after I got there we took an afternoon bus to Caravaca. It roughly translates to cow head, but funny thing was I saw no cows there. But that’s beside the point. The real point is that it’s a cool little town. Ana has class mates that live there so they were nice and showed us around. 

We started the tour of the little town off at the Cathedral. 

Building began in 1617 and was completed in 1703. Now there’s a cross there, it’s a tiny thing really maybe a foot high. This cross has a legend that goes with it. I’ll start with the fact that I think this story is from when the Muslims were conquering Spain…. But I‘m not sure I remember it quite right. You see the Muslim conqueror come to Caravaca and the basilica there. And the Muslims leader has the priest brought to him and tells him to do mass so he can see what it is the Christians do. The priest says he can’t because there were no more crosses in the city and he needed one for the mass. No sooner does he say this then angels descend from the heavens and bring a cross to Caravaca. This miracle converted the Muslims on the spot. 

The original cross was lost in the Spanish Civil War, so the one I saw was a replica of that. Now even though this cross is really small it’s got some bling! Here’s a picture from google

Cute right? 

After that we walked through some of the old town. I just love seeing old towns! I like the tiny streets and the stone buildings.

Then we went to have lunch at the country house of Ana’s friend. I was in heaven because there was lots of Spanish food. I don’t remember what the main dish was called , damn Spanish, but it was super good and there was of course ham. After eating and chatting for a bit we went to the park and had a walk about. 

There’s a tower there and it’s said to have Templar connections. Also it’s supposed to have a secret passageway that connects it to the basilica but it’s never been found.

The park was really pretty….

After that we had time for a hot chocolate before catching the bus… lol not. The bus we wanted to take home wasn’t running so we had to take the last bus back to Murcia. 

Over all I thought Caravaca was such an adorable town. I’d love to live there. I’m always jealous of people who live in towns with really cool cathedrals or basilicas. It just give the town more character when it has something like that with such history. 

Cheers,