Welcome to Murcia!

Murcia is a city in southeast Spain next to the Mediterranean Sea, with its just over 400, 000 inhabitants making it the seventh most important city in Spain. As you can tell, Murcia is far from a large capital on a Spanish or European scale as are Madrid and Barcelona. For this reason, you won't find all the bars, restaurants and shops which cater for every taste here. Mind you, we're not a town, either. We've got some town features too, but only a little bit.

Despite not being the world's cultural capital, Murcia has its charms. What there is to see and where's worth visiting is in the city centre. Murcia should really be called 'five minutes away', as everything here is really nearby. The prettiest and most emblematic places are all very near to each other: the cathedral, Trapería and Platería streets, the university, the casino, the Roman Theatre, the San Esteban Palace and Plaza de las Flores. Remember this list of places to see, as you can't return from a visit to Murcia without having seen them. Something tells me however that if you end up living in this city, you'll see all these things every day.

Murcia isn't a stressful or dehumanized city. When you're out and about in the streets, you always bump into friends or people you know. The same happens at the university, where there's always people milling about nearby who've spontaneously decided to order themselves some tapas and a small beer. This is one of the things I like the most about this city: you head somewhere to buy something or to the university to talk to one of the professors, and you always end up stopping for a while to talk or sit with friends. And no, before you ask, this isn't an exaggeration, it's actually what this city is like.

Generally, Murcian people tend to be extroverted and over-the-top, or just 'Mediterranean', according to some. There are idiotic people all over the globe, but aside from generalizing, people here in Murcia tend to be nice and friendly. I suppose that for the Erasmus students who come from countries whose cultural behaviour tends to be more serious or distant find this a bit odd at first, but I'm pleased to say that this doesn't last long - above all during nights out at Badulake, where after beer after beer exchange students end up happy and socialising in the same way that we do.

Since I've just mentioned the name of the best Erasmus bar here, I'll recommend you some other places to go to, too. Remember though that this depends on what your individual preferences are, so explore on your own, too!

Las Tascas area (in the city centre, next to the university):

• Yesería - pop/indie music, great atmosphere, small beers for two euros, large ones for 2. 50.

• b - pop/rock music, large beers for three euros, suuuuper cheap!

• Troya - a bar where they have lots of imported beers, which can be a bit expensive and is always full, but if you manage to grab a table can be the ideal place to spend a while.
• La Tasca - the fantastic bar which sells 'cubos' - buckets filled with beer bottles and ice!

• Ladrillo - pop-rock music, cool decoration, jars of beers and kalimocho for five euros.

• Atomic - bar with good music, adult atmosphere, great gin and tonics for a good price, zollo sessions (rock and roll, soul, pop... on vinyl).

• Shambala - alternative vibe, two floors, a few tables upstairs.
• A bar whose name I can't remember, in the same street as another bar called La Puerta Falsa (The Wrong Door, which I also recommend) where they sell small beers for 50 cents. It's small and dirty, but it's worth it for the price.
• Temperatura Ambiente - atmospheric bar, with cheap drinks, even a sauna inside (booooiling).
• Musik - on Plaza de Toros, one of the bars which closes the latest, at 5am. It's a club too, while the other ones I've mentioned are only bars and therefore only open til 3am. The atmosphere is great and the music really good.

Mariano Rojas area (30 minutes walk from the city centre):

• There are three clubs (normally people come here when Las Tascas closes, so beforehand there's not much of a vibe) - 12yMedio, Stereo and Sala B.

These are the most basic places, and there are loads more bars with loads more kinds of music (rock, pachangueo, heavy metal, etc... ), but this list is just intended as a start.

I should tell you too that drinking in the streets and having 'botelleos' or 'botellones' is banned in Murcia. If they catch you, they can fine you, though the police don't take it all that seriously. I only know one person they've fined for it, and in my case, I've only had to run away from police two or three times. What mostly happens is that the police approach calmly and ask the people drinking to take their things and continue somewhere else, e. g. in a house or flat.

Let's return to the subject of partying. I know that lots of Erasmus students take advantage of the long-ish holidays during the academic year (Christmas, Easter, etc... ) to go home and spend some time with their family or go travelling. However, I recommend you stay here in Murcia for the Spring Festivals.

These festivals take place the week after Holy Week (whose processions with their wooden religious sculptures from the 17th and 20th centuries are also really worth seeing) and the most important day is the Bando de la Huerta. On this day, the whole of Murcia takes to the streets, most people dressed in traditional Murcian costumes - the 'huertano' - transforming the city into a wild party of drinking and eating. Ambulances carry away teenagers at midday, huertos appear (outside bars set up especially for the occasion and 'campesino' in style) where you can enjoy typical Murcian dishes at affordable prices and a procession of floats which food and drink are thrown from.

On the Saturday of this week, the Burial of the Sardine takes place. There's also a parade for this (this time an evening one), but sadly the party atmosphere isn't the same. Cheap toys are thrown from the floats and people fight over them as if they were in a Roman colisseum. At the end of this parade, an enormous plastic sardine is burned, after which there is a firework display. You have to see it!

Public transport in Murcia is expensive. If you're thinking of getting a taxi in the city centre, only do it if it's absolutely necessary, since getting a taxi to somewhere that's ten or fifteen minutes' walk away will cost you five or six euros, and that's when it's not a special tariff (so at night, on festival days or at the weekend). In terms of buses, if your classes are in Espinardo, the best thing to do is get yourself a bonobus ticket, which will save you money and save you worrying about not having the right change.

The city's climate is almost desert-like and consists of practically two seasons instead of four: summer and winter. Fortunately for you, you'll already have returned to your home country by the time the hottest months arrive (July and August). Mind you, if you're a typical Erasmus student who comes from quite a cold country, you'll find yourself complaining about the heat all year round. Winter is warm here; in December and January, it gets down to 4 or 5 degrees some evenings, but normally it stays between 8 and 12 degrees.

Speaking of the local environment (I'm linking this all so well! ), as I've already told you, Murcia is near the Mediterranean stream, so it's got lots of nearby beaches. There are well-known beaches, like Mazarrón, La Manga, Lo Pagán... but better than going to the really touristy ones is to go to a beach called Calblanque. In my opinion, it's definitely the best beach in the region. It's hard to get to, since it's located in a protected natural area and therefore there aren't any road leading to its shore, but instead there are sand and stone paths which snake between the hills which surround the beach. Don't miss a visit there, it's definitely worth the effort.

Let's move on to the Murcian gastronomy. Murcia is a great city for tapas. The most famous areas for tapas here are Plaza de las Flores and Las Tascas. On the former, I recommend a bar cum restaurant called Madre de Dios, where you can eat excellent food for excellent prices (10 euros or so), so it's unsurprising that it's always full to bursting. On the same square, on Calle de las Mulas, there are two inexpensive bars where you can try out real Murcian cuisine. They're called Las Mulas and Pepico del Tío Ginés. Personally, I'd recommend the latter, as just from the name alone you can tell how authentic a place it is. From the Las Tascas area, I'd recommend Fraskito, which has everything and is super tasty, Haddock, which has the best sandwiches in Murcia, Tablas del Escribano, which is quite cheap, El Chapapote, which is a little more expensive but whose seafood and vegetable chapapotes are unmissable (dishes with a range of grilled seafood or vegetables on the side) and the kebab shop on Plaza del Refugio, where they make the best kebabs in Murcia.

The most typical foods in this region of Spain aren't gazpacho or hams. Instead, the most traditional food here is zarangollo (courgette, onion and egg), Murcian salad (natural tomato, tuna, egg, onion and black olives), marineras (Russian salad and an anchovy on top of a ring-shaped pastry), cold meats (grilled blood sausage, chiquillos, sausage and fresh longaniza), meat cakes...

This is just a small taster of what you'll find Murcia has to offer you. It's a city whose people and whose customs will definitely surprise you, but that is in my humble opinion the ideal place for an Erasmus exchange. Sending hugs to everyone and welcome to Murcia!

P. S. I forgot! Don't panic! We have an IKEA, so you can buy desk lamps and furniture there for your new flat!