Eating like a local on the Costa Cálida

The dish to look for around the Mar Menor is caldero: rice cooked in a fish broth made from whatever the boats brought in, served with the fish separately and a bowl of alioli. It is a lunch dish, it takes time, and the good versions are in the small places on the lagoon shore rather than the ones with laminated menus.

In Murcia city the tapa is the marinera — a ring of bread with russian salad and an anchovy across the top. Order a handful with a beer and you have lunch. Zarangollo, a courgette-and-onion scramble, and the local paparajotes for dessert are the other two to try.

Kitchens open late by northern European standards: lunch from two, dinner rarely before half past eight. Booking for lunch on a Sunday is genuinely necessary.