Ancient Siyasa

CIEZA FROM THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF GOOD SUCCESS
THE REMAINS OF SIYASA CITY Cieza hospital right centre background
Yesterday we went to Cieza Market and while we were in Cieza visited the Museum and art gallery on Calle San Sebastian, they have an very interesting display of items dating as early as the Palaeolithic periods, It appears that 3 kilometres from Cieza there is the ancient city site of Siyasa with around 750 houses among which about 200 have been found to have plaster arches and porticos, the city was finally abandoned in 1266 and the inhabitants left behind thousands of tools,ceramics,ornaments and items of interest, many of these are on display in the Museum.
We decided to find the site for ourselves, we pinpointed it on Google maps and drove up to a parking area that serves access to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Success and the hilltop Arab castle, and followed the track around the side of the hill to where the city stands, it is surrounded by fencing which is understandable, but is still amazing to see, as we got closer to the site, there were many pieces of broken pottery and stoneware lying on the ground and its hard to believe they were from the 12th century. Archeology groups from several universities are investigating the site and this is still in progress.

Calasparra

Calasparra Village Street behind the church
Yesterday we had a drive over to Calasparra, Calasparra has the remains of an Arab castle of which there is not much to see but a nice walk along walkways to it original site, there are great views over the countryside from its highest point. The town sits on the confluence of four rivers, the Segura, Quipar, Argos and Benamor which enables them to grow rice here, which incidently we saw in a shop for 7 euros a kilo. there is a pleasant square with bars and cafes, and a popular attraction is the Santuario de la Virgen de la Esperanza-The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Hope, which is worth a visit,The archealogical museum near the church is closed on Mondays but open 10.30 -13.30 other days entry is 1 Euro.