Cartagena to improve greenway walking routes for the 2024 Holy Jubilee year in Caravaca

Two pilgrimage routes exist from Cartagena to Caravaca in the north-west of Murcia

The Town Hall of Cartagena has announced the work will be carried out to spruce up the “Ruta del Apóstol” walking route which can be followed by pilgrims to the Holy City of Caravaca de la Cruz in northern Murcia during the Jubilee Year in 2024.

The route also connects to others which lead all the way to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia (in the far north-west of Spain), and thus offers committed walkers the opportunity to cross the entire Iberian Peninsula from south-east to north-west.

In order to bring the Ruta del Apóstol up to standard it will be necessary not only to improve signage and create rest and accommodation options, but even to clarify the exact route at some points.

There are in fact two routes which pass through Cartagena: one of them coincides with the Camino del Azahar, and runs from the Cartagena district of Santa Lucía towards the city of Murcia. This includes 30 kilometres within the municipality and when walkers eventually reach Caravaca after 6 stages they have covered a distance of 158 kilometres.

The other, the one on which the Town Hall is focusing, begins in La Aljorra and crosses the flat countryside of the Campo de Cartagena, avoiding urban areas and using existing greenways. This is thought to be of great interest to both walkers and cyclists, who will be able to reach their destination in 5 stages covering 137 km.

All of this reflects the intention to encourage more rural walking and cycling in Cartagena, using the reverence of the “True Cross” of Caravaca as a stimulus to boost all kinds of tourism in the Region of Murcia.