Why Murcia for Holy Week? For Santa Semana en España, people think Sevilla, not simply because it also starts with an S and is an emblem of Spain for its colors and life, for the bull fighting and Flamenco, for the hot spring and summer days filled with música gitana and stereotypical slides of Spain but for the emotion that accompanies the heat and music and holy week processions.
But I chose Murcia, which is home to the great baroque sculptor Salzillo, much smaller, and much closer. And I think I chose wisely. This year many processions were cancelled due to weather, but in Murcia only one was rained out, and I could actually see without being suffocated these beautiful scultpures in their full glory with fresh flowers on the shoulders of the penitents.What did I write in the moment??
Spring Break--for the first time since high school, spring break is where it belongs, Easter. So where is Waldo? I don't know (and frankly don't care, he was always a little too stripy for me) but I am in Murcia, in a grossly overpriced Taperia, so I'm going to get all the mileage possible out of this setting.
So why Murcia. Because it is home to the works of the baroque sculptor Salziollo, which you can see in full glory during Semana Santa (holy week--it just sounds better in Spanish with the alliteration), in the midst of awing processions. This evening was cancelled due to rain, unfortunately, but even if they lack the characteristic charisma of Cordoba, Cádiz, Sevilla, and Granada, there is something overwhelming and awing in the beauty of the colors, the care, and the countless steps.
Then Easter Sunday's lunch/dinner--
Swiss chard, tomatoes, eggs, bell pepper, eggplant, olives, bread, Murcian wine, queso manchego, garlic . . . mmm . . .post Easter--El Camino de Santiago, give me a bit, I am a student, you know :)
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