Leaving Murcia Feels Bittersweet

Today is the end of the State of Alarm here in Spain! Today, the country’s borders will be reopened to Europe and free movement between regions will resume for the first time since March 14.

The last three months have had its shares of up and downs. Although we found a wonderful Airbnb to weather the pandemic, it’s has still been difficult as times. Some days I just wanted to sleep as much of it away as I could. However, most days we found ways to be productive and make the best of the time we were given.

Speaking of time; we are extremely grateful that the Spanish government has automatically authorized us another 90 days from today. For those not familiar with the travel restrictions of Europe and Schengen you can read our blog: https://viajarmoto.com/2020/02/12/schengen-planning/. There is a catch however, the 90 days only applies to Spain and may not be recognized by any of the other 22 Schengen counties. In short, we now have until the 19th September before we must leave Spain.

We’ve been playing with some ideas of how to make the best of these 90 days:

• We’ve got A LOT that we want to see in Spain. Currently, we have 123 pushpins of places we would like to visit in Spain! Clearly we wont be able to see them all since we plan to only travel 3-4 days a week.
• We’ve considered the idea of hiking a portion of the Carmine de Santiago. Perhaps the last 100 km of the Camino Francés which is the most popular route and will give us a week long taste of hiking this historic pilgrimage trail.
• We would also like to travel through Portugal for at least three weeks. Although we won’t have a problem entering the country through the uncontrolled border, we may be there illegally depending on how Portugal is handling visa extensions for tourists trapped by COVID-19.

Irregardless of what option we choose, we are extremely grateful for another 90 days and plan to enjoy a summer of traveling Spain and perhaps Portugal. Life is good!

Our last few days here in Murcia with Maria and her boys has been wonderful. We enjoyed a Spanish style meal at one of the best Indian restaurants I’ve ever eaten at. If your in Cartagena, stop by Restaurante Tikka and enjoy the exceptionally service and food. Maria also hosted a going away meal at her beautiful home in La Palma where we laughed, talked, and ate until well after midnight. That night, we said our “hasta luegos”, hugged, smiled, and even cried. We’ve had a wonderful time here and will remember the love and hospitality of Maria every time we think of Murcia.

Here are some pictures from our last week in Murcia:

Playa las Cañas

Sunsets in Murcia

Street Art in Los Alcázares and Cartagena

Ciudad Encantada de Bolnuevo

Playa de la Pava

Acueducto de Perín

Exploring Offroad in Murcia

Cactus Flower

This flower blooms and lasts only a few days.

Parque Regional de las Salinas

Los Barros Mud Baths

People come from all over Europe to enjoy these mud baths.

Not what you think… It’s just us covering ourselves in black mud before rinsing off in the SUPER salty pools. It seemed a lot more salty than the Great Salt Lake in Utah.

As you can see, we did our best to see and enjoy as much of Murcia as we could before continuing onward.

Where to now? We will continue southwest to the next region of Andalusia and the providence of Almaría. Many more pushpins to uncover and more adventures to come…