Orihuela, Espagne

Orihuela was the capital of a Visigothic and then Moorish taifa (kingdom) before the Christian reconquest in 1243. The medieval and Renaissance prosperity that followed produced the concentration of churches, palaces and convents that still define the old town. The College of Santo Domingo, founded in the 16th century, was a Dominican university. The poet Miguel Hernández (1910–1942), one of Spain's greatest 20th-century poets, was born and raised here — his casa-museo preserves the humble house where he grew up tending goats before becoming a literary sensation and dying in a Francoist prison.

Orihuela's cuisine is rooted in the Vega Baja's extraordinary agricultural productivity. Arroz con costra (rice baked with a crust of egg, sausage and meatballs) is the local signature. Cocido con pelotas (stew with herbed meatballs) is winter comfort food. The citrus fruit — lemons, oranges, grapefruits — comes from the surrounding groves. Artichokes from the Vega Baja are prized. The poet Miguel Hernández, born here in 1910, wrote of the fig trees and goatherds of this landscape. Festivals : Semana Santa (March/April — International Tourist Interest), Fiestas de la Reconquista y Moros y Cristianos (July — medieval reenactments), Feria de Orihuela (February). Musées : Museo Diocesano de Arte Sacro (sacred art in the Episcopal Palace), Museo de la Muralla (medieval wall remnants), Casa-Museo Miguel Hernández (birthplace of the poet).

Sécurité : Orihuela is very safe — a small, quiet city. The Orihuela Costa resort area has standard tourist precautions. Emergency: 112. Langue : Spanish. Valencian is co-official but less spoken than in northern Valencia province. English widely spoken on the Orihuela Costa (large British community). Monnaie : EUR. Cards accepted at most businesses. Cash useful at the old town market and smaller establishments.

Orihuela surprises visitors who expect nothing between Alicante and Murcia. The old town is packed with a density of monumental buildings that belies the city's modest size: the Gothic Cathedral of El Salvador y Santa María (the smallest cathedral in Spain, 13th–14th century), the Baroque Church of Santos Justo y Pastor, the Renaissance Palacio del Marqués de Rafal, the College of Santo Domingo (a massive 16th-century complex sometimes called 'the Escorial of the Levante'), and the medieval Moorish quarter climbing toward the ruined castle on the hill. Orihuela's Semana Santa (Holy Week) is one of the most elaborate in Spain — proclaimed of International Tourist Interest — with processions featuring pasos (floats) by the great Salzillo and other Murcian sculptors. The Vega Baja del Segura — the agricultural plain surrounding the city — is one of Europe's most productive fruit and vegetable zones (lemons, oranges, artichokes, pomegranates). The Orihuela Costa, a 16 km strip of coastline east of the city, is a separate world of resort urbanisations, golf courses and beaches that attract large British, Scandinavian and German communities seeking year-round sun and affordable Costa Blanca living.