Date Published: 20/11/2024

New Semana Santa tourist walk in Jumilla to relive the Easter processions all year round

A 1500-metre route recreates the steps followed by Penitents on the Tuesday before Easter in Jumilla

New Semana Santa tourist walk in Jumilla to relive the Easter processions all year round The Easter Week processions and celebrations in Jumilla date back at least 600 years, placing them among the oldest in Murcia, and have been awarded International Tourist Interest status due to their rich artistic heritage, colour, the devotion and enthusiasm they inspire and the traditions which have evolved over six centuries of processions.

One of the highlights of the week, and perhaps the most solemn of the processions, takes place on the Tuesday before Easter, which is a day of penitence in Jumilla: at 23.00 penitents dressed in black tunics tied with rope, dragging chains behind them, many barefoot, take part in a Vía Crucis of austerity. Lights are turned off and the only illumination is provided by the moon and the bonfires in the streets.

New Semana Santa tourist walk in Jumilla to relive the Easter processions all year round The figure of Cristo de la Vida is carried through the streets in silence, the night broken only by the beat of a solitary drum and the shuffle of feet.

At midnight a so-called Procession in Silence is held, although in fact it is accompanied by constant rhythmic drumming, and the whole experience is a satisfyingly spiritual one as Jumilla relives the roots of its identity.

New Semana Santa tourist walk in Jumilla to relive the Easter processions all year round Now, in an effort to make the experience at least partly accessible to visitors all the year round, a new tourist route, the “Ruta de los Penitentes”, is being created in the old town with the help of 29,220 euros supplied by the regional government and under the auspices of the brotherhood of the Cristo de la Vida. Along the 1.5-kilometre route through the streets of old Jumilla there are to be 16 information panels (one every 100 metres or so, all in Spanish and English) and markers to signal the route on the ground every 40 metres as walkers follow the route taken every year by the procession, as well as a ceramic image to be installed in Calle Cabecico.

For further details contact the local tourist office (Plaza del Rollo, 1, telephone 968 780237 / 663 300779, email oficinaturismo@jumilla.org).

For more local events, news and visiting information go to the home page of Jumilla Today.

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Address

Plaza del Rollo, 1 30520 JUMILLA

Tel: 968 780237 / 663 300779

Oficina de Turismo Jumilla

The tourist office in the centre of Jumilla is easily found by driving straight into the centre of the town along the Avenida de Murcia and following the signposts. The tourist office is alongside the Parque de Don Albano Martínez Molina, where there are a number of parking spaces.

Jumilla, in the north of the Region of Murcia, has become internationally famous over recent decades due to the quality of the wines produced in the municipality, and wine tourism has begun to attract visitors from other parts of Spain and the rest of Europe.

The tourist office is happy to provide a range of maps and leaflets showing the different bodegas which can be visited within the municipality. Some of these form part of the Rutas del Vino de Jumilla, the Jumilla wine route, and can either be visited as a guided tour or sell their produce directly to the public.(see feed below for more details)

However, the town and the surrounding countryside have plenty of other attractions for visitors, and the popularity of Jumilla wines is leading more and more people to discover other facets of the tenth largest municipality in Spain.

Jumilla Tourist Office

These include the spectacular countryside and birdlife in the Sierra del Carche, the historic remains which range from cave paintings and a Roman mausoleum to the castle, the Iglesia de Santiago, the Town Hall and the Teatro Vico, and the gastronomy: rich stews are accompanied not only by the wines of the area but also by Jumilla pears, which also enjoy Denomination of Origin status.

Tourism in Jumilla is not as seasonal as it is in the coastal areas of the Region of Murcia, but the town is at its liveliest during the fiestas in Holy Week and the August Fair, which incorporates the grape harvest celebrations and the Moors and Christians parades.

The Altiplano of the Region of Murcia, which consists of the municipalities of Jumilla and Yecla, is only just over an hour by car from the Mar Menor, Cartagena, Mazarrón, Torrevieja and Alicante, and anyone wishing to visit real inland Spain and world-class wineries is advised to include Jumilla in their schedule.