A while ago John asked me what I wanted for my birthday, to which I replied I needed nothing. So, I then asked what he wanted, and his reply was the same. Then, almost simultaneously we said, why don’t we go away for the weekend?
My birthday, April 8th, is also our wedding anniversary so we decided to go away then. John works five days a week, having Sunday and Monday off. We booked a hotel in Murcia city for the Saturday night (6th) – Monday night (8th) which would give us all day Sunday and Monday to explore.
Having booked a local house and pet sitter, I was all packed and ready to go when John got home Saturday evening at 8pm. I had already put the bags in the car, so it was probably less than ten minutes later, (after John changed his clothes) that we were in the car and on our way north.
We booked in to the hotel, dumped our bags in the room and went in search of the bar, which I had researched was open until midnight, whereas the other one near the hotel shut at 10pm. However, we were disappointed to find the tapas bar well and truly shut. John looked for other bars that might be open nearby, but the only one we could find was a sports bar, which unfortunately did not do any food, nor did they serve decent wine. After a couple of beers, we ended up drinking gin and tonics and eating crisps, bizarrely served half opened on a plate with a wedge of lemon! Actually, they were surprisingly nice!
Sunday was spend navigating the bus system and seeing the sites. Lunch was in a tapas bar in a beautiful square, however the prices reflected we were in a tourist area! They were delicious tapas though, and freshly prepared.
That night we went for an Indian meal, which was absolutely delicious, and very good value, especially as their meal deal included a bottle of wine! Chatting with the owner he asked where we were from and we explained about our holiday weekend, and he gave us a bottle of wine as a present!
The next day we explored some more, but when we felt hungry, we decided to go out of the tourist area and find a real Spanish bar, and we hit gold! Just outside the door we met a lady who told us that, if we went down to the river there were cafes and bars with outside seating. We told her that we knew that, but that we preferred to be in a real Spanish bar. She said we were marvellous and must knock on her door the next time we were here. We wondered how we could do that as, we knew neither her name nor her address!!
Then five minutes later she entered the bar, and came over to us, handing me a bag that contained a doll.
We were amazed at the kindness and friendliness that we encountered in Murcia city. I have always said that the Spanish are very friendly, but to receive two gifts in two days we were certainly blessed.
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