I saw the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Hope on the Internet & thought it looked like a great place to add to my bucket list.

Visit the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Hope.

I have now been able to cross visiting the Sanctuary of Hope off of my bucket list. I saw a locally advertised day trip to go & see it. I was picked up in Los Alcázares where the coach took us first to Murcia City for a couple of hours to look around, before continuing on to see the Sanctuary & have lunch before heading home again.

I enjoyed the short time I spent looking around Murcia but it wasn't why I had purchased the coach tour. When we arrived at the Sanctuary I was delighted to see what a beautiful setting it is in next to the Segura River. When we arrived it was very quiet & all that could be heard on the short walk to the Sanctuary from the car park was the noise of birds singing & the roar of the Segura River below us.

Unfortunately, we didn't have a long time here, I first went into the small museum to look at the items on display there, before making my way into the Chapel itself. It was a beautiful Chapel & the first thing I did was light two candles in memory of my mum & dad. I looked around the Chapel & along with a couple of other people spent some time looking for the Virgin of Hope. We couldn't find the statue & when we asked a guide where it was we were told that the statue of the Virgin was out touring Spain.

When I finished looking around the Chapel I walked to the restaurant at the complex & ate the dinner that was included in the price of the tour. After dinner I spent a short time sitting under the pine trees listening to the roar of the river, it was beautiful. I wish I had been able to spend more time here so I could have explored down by the river.

The Chapel is located around 6 km from the village of Calasparra. The hermitage was originally built in a cave on the side of the Segura River in Murcia, Southern Spain. The story we were told is that when the Virgin was discovered it was to be moved to a Chapel in Calasparra but every time an attempt was made to lift & move the Virgin it became so heavy it could not be moved. For this reason, the Chapel was built around the Virgin, in the cave, it was found.