Caravaca de la Cruz - the other Holy Year City

[sillydoll]

Santiago isn't the only Spanish city celebrating the Holy Year.
There are only 5 Holy cities in Catholic Christianity and three of those are in Spain. They are Santiago de Compostela, Camaleño (the Monastery of Santo Toribio de Liébana) and the 'youngest' being Caravaca le la Cruz. (the other two are Rome and Jerusalem).
Caravaca de la Cruz was given its prestigious Holy City status by Pope John Paul II in 1998. It celebrates its jubilee every seven years, with the first of them taking place in 2003 when the town was visited by the then Cardinal Ratzinger, who is now, of course, Pope Benedict XVI.
Caravaca is dominated by the medieval Castle of Santa Cruz, and contains several convents as well as a fine parish church. The town’s symbol is a distinctive cross which has two horizontal beams as opposed to the usual one. This cross has been celebrated over the centuries for its healing power
This year, only the second jubilee year celebrated, has been a huge organizational job for the municipality of Caravaca, and anyone undertaking a pilgrimage to Caravaca can claim plenary indulgence, so this makes a visit to this city of special importance to those of the Catholic faith. Millions of people have made the pilgrimage walk up to the Basilica this year.
The other claim to fame is that Caravaca contains the The largest collection of ethnic musical instruments in Europe at the Museo de Música Étnica, Barranda.
And now you can walk the tapas route through the town - well worth a visit!
http://www.simplynetworking.es/calida-3 ... d_the.html

 

[sillydoll]

More than 4500 agriculturalists, livestock farmers and fishermen joined together yesterday in pilgrimage to Caravaca de la Cruz, to honour the Jubilee year.

At their head was the President od the Region of Murcia, Ramon Luis Valcarcel, accompanied by all the senior figures within the regions agricultural , livestock and fishing industries, as well as a good assortment of mayors and members of the regional government.

There are a number of pilgrimage routes which lead to the City of Caravaca de la Cruz in the north of the region, 7 main ones which lead from all points of Murcia, all following historical , and even, prehistorical, trade routes



http://www.simplynetworking.es/news-406 ... avaca.html

 

[Deleted member 92153]

I came across with this serie of videos about this other pilgrimage route and I’ve enjoyed it a lot!

Jordi is a ‘peregrino youtuber’ and gives interesting historical and practical details about the Camino Cruz.

Even if it is in Spanish, you might still enjoy them, as the images and the edition work are really well done.

Stage 1: Murcia- Alguazas: 26 km