Tuesday, April 12, 2011

La Giralda? Cardenal Belluga!

Acho......one of my favorite places in Murcia is the Plaza Cardenal Belluga. Although I'm lost to religion many years ago, the side of the cathedral that opens onto the Plaza is quite spectacular, almost leading one to a religious experience. The detail of the stonework, the apostles looking down, the originality, the scale of it, the backdrop of the clocktower that dominates the town.....how did they manage to put it all together so long ago?

Any visitors, I always make a point of showing them this place. I try to make it quite late (a half empty square has it's own sound, an atmosphere almost like you don't have to share the scene with anyone else), an after dinner stroll, always entering from Glorieta, making no build up so nothing is suspected. It's amazing that such beauty isn't very well known - so when they turn the corner onto the square and are confronted with something so special but so unexpected, the moment that the first time observer is stopped in their tracks, open mouthed and wide eyed.....makes me proud of my adopted home.

Just last night, with a business visitor from California, only in Spain for his first visit and only for 24 hours, it again took the breath away.....for both of us.

If I can put a small "but" on the square....it's the Council building directly opposite. I'm not going to do a Prince Charles and call it a "hopeless carbuncle on the face of an old friend", as in itself it's an original and interesting piece of architecture. But it's soooooo out of place......like Tottenham Hotspur in the quarters of the Champions league.



Photos : By day and by night, special.

1 comment:

  1. Very nice, this sort of stuff is really useful. I am back over 14 May and will take this in on my way to the club shop [straight from the airport!]. I did look at trying to get to Puertollano, by car or train - is this realistic!?! can you recommend any train/coach websites for timetable info etc. cheers.

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