Caravaca de la Cruz

Caravaca holds the Vera Cruz, a double-armed reliquary cross said to have been brought by angels in 1232 during the Muslim period, containing a fragment of the true cross. In 1998 the Vatican granted the town a perpetual jubilee every seven years, one of only five places in the world with that privilege alongside Rome, Jerusalem, Santiago de Compostela and Santo Toribio de Liebana. The sanctuary sits inside a castle on the hill above the town, with a baroque marble facade of 1722. The original cross was stolen in 1934 and never recovered; the present one was a papal replacement in 1942 containing another fragment. In early May the town holds the Caballos del Vino, a festival in which horses in embroidered mantles are run up to the castle.

What you actually see

• The Vera Cruz sanctuary - a hilltop church inside a castle with a marble facade.
• The double-armed cross - the reliquary at the centre of the pilgrimage.
• The jubilee years - a perpetual privilege granted in 1998, every seventh year.
• The Caballos del Vino - embroidered horses run up to the castle in May.

When to go

March to June and September to November; the Caballos del Vino falls in early May and fills the town, and jubilee years bring far larger pilgrim numbers. Murcia's inland summer is extremely hot.

Honest expectations

The original relic was lost in 1934, which the sanctuary explains but visitors often do not expect. The climb to the castle is steep. The May festival involves horses run at speed through crowds and has drawn safety and welfare criticism.

Nearby

The Sierra de Moratalla lies north; Murcia city is seventy kilometres east.