Great cafe for tasty treats

When she needs to collect another bit of paper from officialdom, Sharon loves to stop at the Confiteria Emilo Marin, on the Calle Ángel Bruno in Cartagena.

This is in the new bit of town, behind the old city, north of the Paseo de Alfonso XIII. The area used to be a huge lagoon which swept around the city making it an easily defended peninsula. The Carthaginians closed off the narrow neck of land to the east and ran walls between the hills and had a fine fortified place they thought was safe from attack.

They reckoned without the wily Roman, Scipio, who found out the lagoon could be forded at certain phases of the moon and tide and sent in an attack from the back while a diversionary fuss was made at the front. All this happened about 200 years before Christ was born.

However, the lagoon was a fertile source of malaria which swept through the inhabitants for the following 2,000 years until finally, in the 1920s, it was decided the lagoon should be filled in. The work took decades but now the area known as Ensanche provides homes for many of Cartagena´s residents. A special land development company was set up to promote the scheme and you can see its very attractive building, the Urban Expansion Company House, which is described as “a building of eclectic design, both in its construction and decoration.” It is located at the junction of Paseo de Alfonso XIII and the southern bit of Calle Ángel Bruna.

But enough history, it´s the food that counts and the Confiteria Emilo Marin, is the place to head for. There are pavement tables and it is best to go indoors to choose from the cabinets loaded with all sorts of pastries, cakes, tarts, mousses, meringues and confectionary. There are also savoury treats, such as empanadas, filled with meat or tuna, little pizzas and breads. A Spanish friend advises that the take-away meals are excellent and very good value. The café is near the Palacio Justicia, on a corner on the other side of the street. Parking is a nightmare, oh well, nothing´s perfect.

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©Phillip Bruce

Cake and sunshine are all you need

The simplest pleasures are best, such as sitting at a pavement café on a sunny spring morning.

We had traveled to Murcia City, the capital of Murcia Province, Spain, in order to deal with some bureaucratic paperwork and, once free of the crowded government offices it was time for a coffee. We headed with friends Liz and Graham for the Café Roses, which is on the south bank of the Segura River, just over the old bridge at the end of the wide Gran Via that cuts through the centre of Murcia. The bridge was started in 1718 and there is a neoclassical shrine to the Virgin on the south bank which opened in 1839. A short way past that, on the right hand side of the road, there are several cafes with pavement tables.

We sat at the Café Roses and ordered milky and black coffees and then went inside to study the treats on offer. Choosing is always a problem with so much to tempt and so many calories to worry about. Sharon chose a chocolate layer affair with shavings of dark chocolate on top and added a strawberry flavoured mousse and sponge cake for good measure. We decided to share everything and a big fluffy puff pastry thing with a round of meringue was added to the order, together with a pastry covered with sweet sugar gel onto which pine nuts dusted with icing sugar were densely packed. On the savoury side, a giant croissant filled with cheese and ham and a small, long, pizza topped with a rasher of bacon completed the spread.

We sat outside under the shade of a large umbrella and watched the world go by. Of course, we all complained about the calories to come but when the dishes were brought out the spoons and forks were soon hard at work. When the wreckage was being picked at more coffees were ordered and we sat back, gossiped and watched the world go by.

Across the street a large water sculpture featured two huge pots. The top one was filled with water which streamed from a pipe and when full it turned over and disgorged into the lower pot. Murcia City was founded by the Islamic invaders in when they swept through Spain. They brought with them sophisticated irrigation techniques, including water wheels, hydraulic mills and channel systems to bring precious water to the fields, often planted with the oranges and lemons which they also introduced from the Middle East. Next to the old bridge, on the river itself, is the city´s hydraulic museum – Museo Hidráulico Los Molinos del Rio, set in an ancient water mill.

But we had no time for museums today and, instead, just enjoyed the sunshine.
Diagonally across the road the edge of the Floridablanca garden could be seen, with its imposing stone arched entrance displaying the armorial bearings of the Count of Floridablanca who gave it to the city – the first public garden in all of Spain. There are large and stately trees and in the summer the park is filled with roses. We decided to visit another day.

There were just a few smidgeons of cake left and it would be a shame to waste them.

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©Phillip Bruce 2009.

Beer and chips are best

More than 90 per cent of the passengers who pass through Murcia´s San Javier airport are British. This is recognised in the signage of the café near to the check in desks.

Visitors will look in vain for Spanish specialities, instead beer, choc bars and chips are proudly on offer. Satisfied passengers consume vast quantities of all of them.

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©Phillip Bruce 2009