In the southeast corner of our peninsula lies the region of Murcia, whose capital is the city of Murcia (as Murcians say it so often: Murcia, Murcia… just that, nothing more). It is the south, but not Andalusia; it is the Levant, but not the Valencian Community. This is how I have had to locate my homeland on the map when I explain it abroad. A place that is sometimes forgotten, even, is a fact, undervalued.
However, it takes returning home with the eyes of someone who has been away to appreciate the genuineness of the place. Although romanticizing can distort ideas, we’ll allow ourselves a little here, for after all we play at home. And it is that, suddenly, in a world homogenized by hypercapitalism, we have managed to notice the singularity that breathes here. I (Blanca) grew up in a housing development near Molina de Segura in the 1990s, in a place without a clearly defined identity.
Thanks to that moment of “proto-internet” and, above all, to cinema and music, I could dream of exotic and distant worlds and sate my thirst for knowledge beyond the academic. In Murcia city we don’t have a beach, so culture saved my summers. But, paradoxes of life—and those who know Leafhopper know our passion for the sea and coral reefs—came true when we found ourselves “stuck” in Murcia due to the lockdown that plagued the planet, when we discovered that those mountains of Molina de Segura where I grew up were a tropical sea millions of years ago. Boom! Us traveling to Micronesia to learn about corals and it turns out we have them at home (in fossil form, that is).
But, beyond the other varied and fantastic landscapes of the whole region, we’ve come here to encourage you to visit Murcia city. We love strolling, so the first thing we would do to start the day is wander through the ‘huerta,’ along the edge of the Segura River. And yes, although it may seem like barren scrubland at first glance, the huerta and the water culture are key here. Just walking it you’ll appreciate it fully. You can follow the Malecón promenade (designated a Site of Cultural Interest since 1982) or, simply, the river’s course. It’s fun to see how capers and palm trees grow on the banks while geese and ducks stroll unhurriedly among homes of disparate styles and plenty of green, a lot of green.
