Murcia

We reluctantly leave Jalon and head down to a new stop near Murcia for a few days and a visit in to the city. The Aire is part of a huge retail car park with more space than they know what to do with so fits the bill nicely for our purpose

Nina spots a Christmas Puppy in nearby Ikea

(Less looking after than the real Larry, hey Deb!)

I prefer sausages at Xmas TBH....

There's an excellent new tram system in place in the city with a stop near us so decide to walk in but tram it back in the evening

Eventually we find a really nice cafe for elevenses'

We had to move from here shortly afterwards as the sun was just too strong (at last!)

The route in is not sexy with lots of development work going on, alas not in this case

Nina's Nirvana, Yuletide shopping heaven..

Murcia's Town Hall

€1.00 a pop for a quality beer, bargain!

Plenty of big green areas here in this busy city where folks can chill

Water urn fountain that just needed switching on really..

As with so many Spanish towns and cities its easy to get lost in the maze of tiny streets and passageways so rooftop towers and Maps.me become the navigational aides for the day

The 'North Remembers'

Perhaps a 'Bridge Too Far' as we decided to take a look at the other side of the Rio Segura to discover  far too much walking was required to do it justice so wandered back to the old part and those tapas bars...

It was the Catalonian parliamentary vote today and we were aware of more Spanish flags than usual, perhaps just a sign of allegiance and a public moral boosting exercise given the area is a long way off

Apparently Christmas is around the corner

In the Plaza Circular the man made light & sound tree dominates proceedings

We stuck around here in the evening and listened to the local gospel choir bang out their seasonal offerings which they did admirably.

We'd walked a big day today so decided the swish new tram was our sleigh ride home...