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Caravaca promotes cycling tourism in the city and surrounding countryside
6 new routes have been presented to the cycling community as attractions to visit Caravaca
The Town Hall of C Caravaca de la Cruz has announced an initiative to promote the attractions of cycling tourism both in the municipality and in the surrounding area through tourist packages which will be offered by specialized travel agencies and on the website of the council department of Tourism.
The promotion focuses on 6 routes along which infrastructures are being improved, all of them publicized through leaflets and in the wider cycling community, according to Mayor José Francisco García and councillors José Santiago Villa and Pepe Fernández, speaking at an event organized by the national group Pedal Spain at the church of San Sebastián. Sr García highlighted the importance of cycling tourism as one of the strategic targets for the department of Tourism, underlining that improvements have already been made along the Collado de la Cruz route through the installation of new signposting.
At the same time, infrastructures such as the new green route around the city and the organization of top cycling events including a stage in the Tour of Spain all serve to place Caravaca in the limelight of the cycling world.
The 6 routes outlined are the “Treasures of Caravaca: Las Fuentes del Marqués” “In the Footsteps of the Pilgrim”, “Culture, Water and Roots”, A New Rural Environment to Discover”, “Collado de la Cruz de Caravaca” and “Pure Mountain Bike”, and the tourism packs currently being designed will offer stays in the municipality of between 1 and 7 days, combining cycling with gastronomy, cultural tourism and the natural environment (as well as accommodation, special guides, bike hire and insurance).
For more local events, news and visiting information go to the home page of Caravaca Today.
Address
Calle De Las Monjas, 19, 30400 CARAVACA DE LA CRUZTel: 968 702424 / 968 701003
Oficina de Turismo de Caravaca de la Cruz
More information about the places of interest which can be visited in the municipality of Caravaca de la Cruz, along with what's on and local news can be found in the Caravaca Today.
Caravaca de la Cruz, in the north-west of the Region of Murcia, is one of only 5 Holy Cities in the Roman Catholic world, a centre of pilgrimage, along with Rome, Jerusalem, Santiago de Compostela and Santo Toribio de Liebana, and is home to the Cross of Caravaca, the Vera Cruz.
The status of Holy City was bestowed by Pope John Paul II in 1998, granting the City a Permanent Jubilee year every 7 years for perpetuity, the first one held in 2003 and the next in 2024.
The strategic and natural advantages of Caravaca de la Cruz have attracted the attention of settlers for more than 800,000 years, the Cueva Negra yielding remains of Homo Heidelbergensis, forbears of the Neanderthals and the municipality also houses important archaeological remains from the Argaric, Iberian and Roman cultures. many of these can be seen in the Municipal Archaeological Museum.
As a border town caught between the Catholic forces of Castille and the last remaining Moorish stronghold in Spain, Granada, Caravaca had a turbulent medieval history, but it was during this period that the legend of the Cross of Caravaca was born, bringing the religious orders which shaped the structure of Caravaca today, with its impressive hilltop castle and eclectic collection of churches and monasteries, religious tourism today being a backbone of the town´s economy.
Caravaca de la Cruz is a municipality with important natural resources, including extensive forests, part of which have protected status due to their wealth of flora and fauna, and due to the abundant water supplies is also a major area for canned fruit production, apricots in particular being an important crop.
Caravaca is renown for its important May Fiestas, held in honour of the Vera Cruz, which also incorporate the Moors and Christians celebrations and the Running of the Wine Horses.
Caravaca de la Cruz is also the home of Europe´s largest collection of ethnic instruments at Barranda, the Museo de Música Étnica Barranda and is the location of the Barranda festival de Cuadrillas, which celebrates the Region's ethnic music traditions.
The municipality is home to around 26,000 inhabitants and shares boundaries with Moratalla, Cehegín, Lorca, Puebla de Don Fadrique in the province of Granada and Vélez-Blanco in the province of Almería.
Opening times:
Weekdays: 10.00 to 14.00 and 16.30 to 19.30
Saturdays: 10.30 to 14.00 and 16.30 to 19.30
Sundays and public holidays: 10.30 to 14.00
Click for map, Caravaca de la Cruz Tourist Office
