11th and 12 June, Lorca and Aguilas

Yesterday we took the bus inland to Lorca, a smallish unspectacular town about 45 minute’s drive from the coast. Like many of the towns in the region it has a Moorish fortress which is worth a visit, and a rich history dating back to the Romans, but we were completely astonished when we visited the towns two “Embroidery Museums”. (Stay with me, those of you who are already falling asleep!). In the 17^th Century, two religious societies in the town were granted Papal authority to walk their “Madonna’s” through the town over the Easter weekend. The “White” and “Blue” Societies are still competing to hold the most amazing spectacle today and the stands created along the town’s main streets seat 24,000 people. The religious theme of the pageants has expanded to include a bit of Roman and Egyptian (???), which means there are huge floats, (carried by up the 120 people), exhibitions of horsemanship and four horse chariots are driven through the town at full speed. If its anything like as good as the video it must be amazing! Oh and back to embroidery, everyone who takes part are dressed the most astonishing hand embroidered costumes, some up to 80 years old. The societies still employ people today to keep the skills alive and the costumes coming.

Today has been quite boring by comparison, cleaning and doing jobs like making a boarding ladder to make it easier to get off the back of the boat.

More from the "Blue" exhibition, the hood of the costume represents the church spire.

More from the "Blue" exhibition, the hood of the costume, though rather scary to look at, represents the church spire.

The "white" costumes are supposed to reflect church different architectural styles

The societies have their own churches, each with a huge amount of gold leaf.

In the Mediterranean you have to moor stern or bow to the pontoon. Getting on and off has been a bit of a challenge for Wendy at times. We finally found a hardware shop selling ladders and got a few odd looks carrying our prize back to the boat. It will be OK when it's finished, all we need now is some wood to fill in the gaps.