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Caravaca
«Caravaca de la Cruz guarda una reliquia de la Vera Cruz.»Caravaca de la Cruz keeps a relic of the True Cross.
Caravaca de la Cruz is in the northwest of the Murcia region, in a mountainous area that is cooler and rainier than the rest of the territory. The city grew around the castle-sanctuary that houses the relic of the True Cross, and it is one of the few places in the world that can celebrate a perpetual jubilee year.
Did you know
The horses running up the castle.
Every year in May, the 'Caballos del Vino' races are held, where richly adorned horses gallop up the hill.
How they talk in Caravaca
The speech of the Murcian Noroeste retains the aspiration of the «s» but less marked in some contexts compared to the capital. «Caballos del Vino» is a local expression that everyone in the city immediately associates with the most famous festival.
acho
Hey; friend; boy, as a call or interjection. In informal speech it calls the interlocutor or introduces surprise, protest, complicity, and other reactions according to the intonation.
Everyday life in Caravaca
The «Caballos del Vino»
On 2 May the horses gallop up the castle ramp covered in embroidered mantles, with four men running while clinging on. It lasts a few seconds and the town prepares it all year round.
«Los caballos suben al castillo.» — The horses go up to the castle.
The jubilee year every seven
Caravaca is one of the few cities in the world with a perpetual jubilee: every seven years the Door of Forgiveness opens and pilgrims arrive from all over Spain. In those years the town changes rhythm.
«Este es Año Jubilar.» — This is a Jubilee Year.
Seven hundred metres, and it snows
At seven hundred metres, with the sierras around, winter here is real: it snows, and the climate is nothing like that of the Murcian coast an hour away.
What to eat in Caravaca
Migas
Semolina or bread soaked and sautéed in oil with garlic and bacon, until they crumble.
Arroz con conejo y caracoles
Dry rice with rabbit, snails and rosemary, cooked in a wide pan.
Cordero al horno
Lamb from the sierra baked in the oven with potatoes, garlic and white wine.
Festivals in Caravaca
Caballos del Vino
1 and 2 May
Horses covered in embroidered mantles gallop up the castle ramp with four men clinging on: it lasts a few seconds.
What to see in Caravaca
Basílica de la Vera Cruz
The baroque sanctuary inside the castle, with the red marble façade and the relic of the double-barred Cross.
Castillo de Caravaca
Fortress with fourteen towers, held by the Templars, which has a church instead of a keep.
Iglesia de El Salvador
Renaissance church built by a disciple of Vandelvira, in a mountain town.
Museo de la Fiesta
The costumes and embroidered mantles of the Caballos del Vino, and the footage of the race.
Where Caravaca comes from
The cross that arrived in flight
Iberian era
The oppidum
A settlement on the hill, in a transit zone between the Meseta and the Levante.
1231
The legend
The story says that two angels brought the cross to a prisoner priest, in front of the Moorish king.
1266
The Templars
The Order of the Temple receives the town and reinforces its castle.
1998
The jubilee
The Pope grants it the perpetual jubilee year: it is one of the five cities in the world to have it.
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