ARCHIVED - Weekly What's on round-up week ending 15th November

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This weekend one of the most popular events is undoubtedly "Sardine Sunday" in Bolnuevo, the big day for the Fiestas del Milagro in this coastal area of the Mazarrón municipality.

On this grand day of the fiestas the image of the virgen which is believed to have staved off an attack by marauding Berber Pirates, is carried 7km across country, accompanied by thousands of people, along with horses and carriages, who parade through the centre of Bolnuevo before settling down on the beach to enjoy a day of BBQs, grilled sardines courtesy of the council and a pleasant and sociable time enjoying this magnificent stretch of coastline.

There are many other activities within this fiestas programme including music on both Friday and Saturday evenings, all of them free. Click here for full English language programme.

Lorca is also feeling festive, as its annual fiestas in honour of the city patron, san Clemente, get underway. On Saturday evening this week the grand costumed parade of the three cultures which have defined the identity of the city, the Moors, Christians and Jews, takes place, and during the coming week there are several activities of interest before the large-scale mediaeval market opens on Friday, the torchlit procession wends its way up to the castle, the gastro-tapas route gets underway and the castle is filled with fighting costumed knights, wealthy traders, hungry peasants and splendid monarchs. Click for full programme of the Fiestas of san Clemente.

This Sunday and next the castle is also hosting another falconry event, with entry just one euro above the normal 6 euro entry fee for those who would like to see hunting birds in action as well as close-up. Click for falconry information.

Lorca also has a sporting event "for the boys" this weekend, with a new edition of the Subida a Ramonete rallysprint road race, this tyoe of event equally as thrilling for spectators as it is for the drivers!

Those who enjoy car and bike action might also be interested in an event in Cartagena in which riders of classic motorcycles complete 25 laps of an urban course set up in the road alongside the El Batel auditorium on Sunday morning; just around the corner on the cuesta del Batel there's another event taking place using a totally different form of transport; horses and carriages, with 30 "historic" carriages, complete with horses and drivers, competing on the large area of grass used for the battle during the Romans and Carthaginians fiestas. Both events are free for spectators.

If you're going to Cartagena this weekend it's also worth thinking about taking the "virtual tour" at the Roman Theatre Museum using 3-d immersive goggles. I actually went and did this tour myself this week and it was an amazing experience, sitting in the theatre totally immersed in the Roman world, with the theatre "virtually" reconstructed around me. Quite an experience which I would willingly repeat!

If you enjoy seeing the horses in Cartagena on Sunday, then you might like to see more than a few dogs at Torre Pacheco as well as this weekend it's the annual large-scale dog show at the IFEPA showground with dogs, dogs, dogs and .....more dogs. All things doggy including trade stands, demonstrations, display, dog grooming, dogs looking for a home and lots and lots of dog competitions.

On the food front, we have events all over the region; Jumilla is holding its gastronomic menus at weekends right through to the end of the month, celebrating regional produce and Jumilla wines in a series of special set meals in a number of local restaurants, all of which require pre-booking. The Jumilla wineries are also part of the Murcia Wine Bus initiative which continues throughout November and December visiting wine bodegas in the three wine producing DO's of the region. These tours are 59 euros and include bus transport, lunch, wine tastings, bodega tours and cultural visits to other locations in the municipality selected.

Several Tapas routes are underway this weekend and more are lining up, a fun way to discover new places to eat in a specific town and sample a wide range of different tapa. Each hostelry prepares a special tapa, and presents it in a route map, showing participants a map of the bars and what they are offering. Prices are set, usually around 2.50 -3 euros for the selected tapa and a drink (normally a small wine, beer or soft drink) and participants simply go from bar to bar purchasing the tapa and receiving a stamp on the routecard afterwards; these can be entered into a prize draw once a set number of establishments has been visited.

They're a fun way to explore and there is no obligation to sample the offerings in every bar, although of course, for some people a tapas route isn´t a tapas route unless they've sampled everything on the menu! In most cases the routes run over a period of time, giving determined "taperos" plenty of time to munch their way through the offerings!

Alhama de Murcia offers its annual autumn tapas route with free bus service to participants, ferrying them around the town; in Lorca there is an unusual tapas route in the outlying higher districts centred around La Paca which visits the villages in this rural area, focusing on local traditions as well as local food; the village of Bolnuevo in the Mazarrón municipality, has a tapas route alongside the fiestas, Calasparra, Caravaca de la Cruz, Mula and Moratalla all have tapas routes in the north-west of the region and Águilas has this week begun its own tapas route, which is always a high quality route with some beautifully presented plates of food, focusing on the gastronomic traditions of the Mediterranean coastline.

Next weekend Lorca joins the fray with its own mediaeval tapas route, as does san Javier, as its own fiestas begin.

Those who like to shop might enjoy the artisan fair in the Puerto de Mazarrón on Saturday or the fundraising artisan fair for Friends of Mazarrón Animals on the Camposol Urbanisation this Saturday, or the artisan fairs in Caravaca de la Cruz and Mula on Sunday, both in the north-west of the region. The Mula fair is accompanied by an open-air painting competition which is free of charge for anyone to enter.

If you enjoy art, there are lots of new exhibitions in the exhibition feed below, and the same goes for lovers of music, with lots of music and dance events lined up for the weeks ahead, many of them free of charge. there are too many to list in this text, but scroll down through the feed below to see what lies ahead.

There are other guided tours, routes and walks this weekend and listed for many weeks in advance. On Sunday Jumilla has an English language castle tour, as does Alhama de Murcia on Saturday and there is also a free theatrical guided tour in Alhama de Murcia on Sunday. It's well worth scrolling down through the feed or using the date search facility provided to search events by date as some of these routes are listed as far ahead as December.

There are dozens of options including cycle rides, boat trips, scenic walks, historical and cultural tours, trips to olive mills or wine tastings, some in English, others in Spanish and most of them free of charge.

There are also lots of sporting events, community events and fixed places to visit in the feeds below as well, just scroll down through the feeds and see if anything catches your attention.

Have a great week and if you like what we do, please share it with your friends!!!!

All of the events in the feeds below can be seen on the Murcia Today page in the What’s on section, laid out in date order: Click What’s on Murcia Today

To search by day use the calendar function: Click What’s on calendar

It's also possible to search by location using the "All Areas and Towns" search button on the header, each town having its own section, full of detailed local information.

To try and feed the events out as widely as possible during this busy period we operate a number of Facebook groups, so if you would like to see prompts about the many events (and local news) on offer, then join whichever of the following relates to your local area or interests:

What’s on and Where to go Facebook Group which covers the region: Click What's on and where to go

Around Mazarrón news, events and local info: Click to join

Mazarrón, Fuente Álamo, Águilas, Lorca, Totana, Puerto Lumbreras, Camposol, Alhama de Murcia. Click to join (all within a half hour drive of each other)

Mar Menor news, events and local info. Click to join (this includes all the Mar Menor municipalities and Cartagena)

North-west Murcia: Bullas, Mula, Cehegin, Caravaca, Cieza, Calasparra, Jumilla, Moratalla info. Click to join

Murcia arts and culture: Click to join