Moratalla is a hill town that spills down a slope beneath its castle in the north-west of Murcia, a maze of steep, narrow streets, whitewashed houses and stairways. Around it lies a vast municipality of mountains, forests and valleys, and in the valley of Benizar, near the Río Benamor, is La Risca, a group of painted shelters that form part of the World Heritage Site of Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin. The paintings include human figures and animals, typical of the Levantine style, small and faded but full of life.
The Moratalla area is one of the richest in Murcia for rock art, with dozens of shelters in the surrounding hills. A visitor centre in the town can provide information and arrange guided visits. The landscape is beautiful, with pine-covered mountains, river valleys, orchards and terraces of almonds and olives.
Moratalla is famous for its September fiesta in honour of the Santísimo Cristo del Rayo, which includes bull runs through the streets, and for its tamborada at Easter, when hundreds of drummers fill the town with an extraordinary, relentless sound that goes on for days. The town's castle, a Christian fortress built on Moorish foundations, offers views over the roofs and the surrounding countryside.
The roads around Moratalla are a joy for riders, with curves, climbs and quiet villages. The road north towards Nerpio and the Sierra de Segura is especially scenic, and the routes west into Albacete and Granada provinces offer more mountains. Surfaces vary, and you may meet slow vehicles and animals. Summers are hot in the valleys but cooler in the mountains, and winters can bring snow to the higher roads.
Moratalla, twelve kilometres away, has fuel, places to sleep and a handful of good, plain restaurants. Order the rice with rabbit and snails, cooked over vine cuttings when they do it properly, and a bottle from Bullas or Jumilla, and let the drummers, if it is Easter, keep you awake.