Orihuela

Orihuela lies on the Segura below the steep slopes of San Miguel, where the older fortified settlement once stood. The city spread toward the river, whose course shaped its streets and irrigated lands. Its cathedral of the Saviour bears traces of earlier Visigothic and Islamic buildings. In 1564, after a long effort to separate from the diocese of Cartagena, Orihuela became the seat of its own bishopric, strengthening its standing as a religious centre of southern Valencia.